The Ice Wolf
by Peanut Butter Bacon
Summary: Instead of confronting Roman Torchwick, Ruby chases a girl with white hair through the streets. After being confronted by Ozpin and made to make a deal with him ('cause that's not overused), Remnant's literal lone wolf is forced into being in a team lead by the girl responsible for her being stuck there in the first place. (Faunus Weiss & WARNING: self-harm and attempted suicide.)
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Yes, this is indeed another story for me to try and keep track of. However, this is an idea that has popped up a few times and is the rare isnstance of me actually knowing where I want to take it... so here we are. Also, this does not mean that I am giving up on the other stories. I'm just trying to think of what to do with them next. But I just want to clarify, in no way as I write this chapter does it reflect my views, I'm interpreting what I think Jacques' mindset is. But as a trigger warning, there is a slight bit of sexism and some comments about disabilities. Again, this is in no way my views, especially seeing as how a majority of my friends are female, I have several disabled friends, and I myself am, technically speaking, disabled as well... that last part is a little complicated to explain and is kind of a long story but I just wanted y'all to know that I have nothing against either of those groups. Anyway, I hope you enjoy an I'll see you in the next chapter.**

**Okay, begin!**

* * *

Jacques Schnee sits with one leg laying across another as he reads a newspaper. Normally the birth of a child is a joyous occasion for a couple, but Jacques was never a happy man... and this child just had to force his wife into labor when he was in a very important meeting regarding the security of the company as some teenage faunus punk managed sneak inside one of his buildings and hack the system, wiping everything of importance and releasing a headline with the seal of the company itself saying:

_JACQASS SCHITFACE SUCKS DICKS._

Needless to say that a great many people lost their jobs. The kid hadn't even been born yet and was annoying him and keeping him from what was actually important, his work and pride... so far he didn't have high hopes for the brat. Before they began their work on his wife, a nurse asked if he would like to go in. Obviously, he refused as the constant noise he dealt with when Winter was born was a pain in the ass. He already has one heir anyway, so another child is just more work to deal with... but everything needs a fall back plan. If Winter turned out to be a failure, then her sibling would inherit the company instead.

"Mr. Schnee?" asks the nurse form earlier, causing him to look up from his paper.

"Yes?" he replies.

"They've taken your child to the back to run some tests and make sure that she's healthy."

"Good. Very good." Jacques says before looking back to the paper. Well this is a let down, he would have preferred a male, but he supposes a female will suffice. They're not as capable, but neither are they useless. After all, Winter is already a thing.

"A-actually, Mr. Schnee, Doctor Stein has something that he wishes to discuss with you."

The man with the moustache sighs and rises from his seat after placing the paper he was reading on the table beside him. "Very well then, lead the way."

The nurse only nods in reply and leads the head of the Schnee Dust Company to the room where his wife is located. "Doctor Stein will be with you in a few moments." The nurse announces before departing.

"How are you holding up, Willow?" questions Jacques, not that he really cares. It's just a natural question to ask at a time like this.

"I'm doing just fine." his wife responds.

"Did the child look like it was in good condition?"

"Well, that's the thing. They took her before I could even get a glimpse. I'm afraid that there's something wrong."

Upon hearing that there may be something wrong with this child, Jacques is even more displeased. He doesn't need her to be anymore of an annoyance than she already has been. A disabled child would be nothing but a nuisance. The head of the SDC is snapped out of his thoughts when the doctor enters the room.

"Ah, Doctor Stein. I trust that everything with my new blood is alright?" he questions.

"Yes, your daughter is in perfect health." Stein replies. "However..."

"Then why rush her from the room and scare my wife like that?"

"I was just about to get to that." The doctor adjusts his glasses before shoving his hands into his pockets. "You see, there is a complication."

"Which is?"

"There's nothing physically wrong, but it seems as though your daughter was born with a rare condition that does not occur often... hardly ever in fact."

"Doctor, stop beating around the bush and get on with it."

Stein sighs, only speaking a few moments afterwards. "To put it lightly, Mr. Schnee, your daughter is a faunus."

The room grows silent for what seems like hours with Jacques Schnee shaking visibly before he finally speaks. "Don't you toy with me, Doctor."

"I can assure you that I'm not." Stein announces whilst adjusting his glasses again.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Calm down, it's not that big a deal."

"Not that big a...?! That shouldn't be possible!"

"On the contrary, if you recall, I said that hardly ever shows up. Statistically speaking, it's about a zero point zero three four three five seven nine percent chance. There's nothing wrong with a faunus being born to human parents, even if there has never been any faunus heritage. It just doesn't happen often. In fact, in my fourty six years of delivering kids, this is only the second time I've seen it with my own eyes. Ask any professional in the medical field, Mr. Schnee, they'll give you the same answer."

Jacques Schnee was at a loss for words. His child is... a faunus? His child? HIS CHILD?! HE BROUGHT ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE ANIMALS INTO THE WORLD?!

With her husband in a state of shock and essentially licking his wounds, Willow asks: "What kind of faunus is she?"

"Well if your husband promises not to explode into a million pieces, I can show you." announces the doctor.

A half hour later and the Schnees are about to walk out of the hospital with their new child. Thank the gods her tail is hidden in the blanket. Before getting within the view of the hospital's exit, Jacques stops pushing Willow's wheelchair.

"Why are we stopping?" questions the latter.

"We still have time." the former replies. "We could just say she died at childbirth."

"Jacques, enough! You may have been able to get me to do whatever you want for our entire marriage, but for this, I am not budging one solitary inch. This is our child and you will not throw her out like trash. And I swear if any harm comes to her, I will tell the press everything."

Jacques opens his mouth to retort but immediately snaps it shut because of his situation. Now the tables had turned, Willow was the one in control and Jacques had to do what she said... or he loses his career. She may have well just threatened his life. She knows it, and no more words are spoken between the two as Jacques leads his wife through the hospital doors and into the crowd of awaiting press.

* * *

_Seventeen years later..._

A young girl by the name of Ruby Rose is listening to some music on her headphones as she flips through a weapon magazine. After several minutes of viewing and daydreaming, Ruby closes the magazine and places it under her arm before heading to the section of the store containing the dust she requires for Crescent Rose. Because of her music, she fails to hear the door to the shop open to signal someone's entry. When she is done collecting what she needs, the young girl pulls off her headphones to purchase her supplies. As the old shopkeeper starts to ring up her items, Ruby spots a girl not much older than herself fill up a descent sized vial with ice dust before screwing the lid on and throwing the vial in a light blue sling bag that looks a little worse for wear. The girl herself has hip length white hair, ice blue eyes, is wearing a white turtleneck and blue jeans... both items being dirty and ripped in a few places, no shoes, a rapier on her hip, and finally, has a white wolf tail.

The girl continues to fill up containers and toss them in her bag. Another ice, fire, lightning, gravity, water,... She's going to pay for those, right? It doesn't really look as though she can afford it... but maybe she can? Ruby is snapped from her thoughts as the shopkeeper gives her the price for her items and she is forced to pay. After that, she tells the shopkeep to have a good night and walks out the door, after a few yards however, Ruby's instinct tells her to wait for a moment; so the silver-eyed girl stops and turns around to look through the windows of the shop. Upon doing so, she finds that the same girl who was stuffing dust containers into her bag has finished so and removes a snow globe from one of the shelves before throwing it to the back of the store where it hits an expensive looking statue of a Warhammer off the top of another shelf and the former breaks on impact as the latter is knocked off and busts on the floor.

After doing this, the girl ducks down behind the cabinet where she got the snow globe as to hide from the shopkeeper's view. The half-bald man looks around the store to find out who caused the mess, but fails to see the wolf faunus from her hiding spot. After collecting a broom and dustpan, the shopkeep leaves the register and heads towards the back of the store. Once he is a good distance away, the girl slowly moves from her hiding spot and jumps over the counter. She breaks the little bell that sounds when the register opens and slowly pulls open the drawer before stuffing the lien inside her sling bag. Ruby narrows her eyes at the sight. So she is stealing. That jerk is taking the older man's hard earned profits away from him.

Ruby marches back into the store and yells: "Hey! Cut that out!" startling both the girl and the shopkeep.

At the sight of what the white-haired girl is doing, the store owner raises his broom into the air as a sign of hostility towards the thief. The girl then quickly zips up her bag, leaving the rest of the lien in the register, hops onto the top of the counter, and leaps towards Ruby. The girl then plants one foot on the top of the younger girl's head before launching off of it and through the window. The action makes Ruby stumble forwards for a second before she regains her footing and turns to look at the girl.

"It alright if I go after her?" Ruby asks the store owner.

The shopkeep nods in response and the caped-girl places her bag of newly purchased items down on the counter before running after the girl. Going back to the faunus, she stops behind the corner of a building to catch her breath and looks back to make sure that she isn't being followed when a force of wind and rose petals brush by her. She turns around to see what that was about, falling over as Ruby is only a few inches from her face. It's only now that Ruby sees exactly what kind of state the girl laying on the ground staring back at her in shock is in. Her white hair has some sticks and dirt here and there, her clothes are also not only dirty but have a few bits of faded red in several locations, her feet are cut up and bruised from the lack of footwear, … and over her left eye lies a vertical scar extending from the middle of her forehead down to her cheek. Okay, so maybe she may need the stolen items, but that doesn't make it right.

"Please return the money you stole from the old guy." Ruby requests, but because of the girl's appearance, she adds: "I'll buy you the dust... seeing as how you probably don't have any of your own money since you're stealing some."

The wolf faunus just stares up at the red cloaked girl without saying a word as her chest rises and falls pretty quickly. She actually looks... scared.

"Hey, it's okay." Ruby assures her in the most calming voice she can create. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Maybe she overdid it with the whole "using her semblance to run right past the girl and position herself three inches from her face" thing, but she's never had this kind of reaction before. Usually people just back up and get mad at her, but this girl, it's like she thinks Ruby could kill her at any second. Is she really that scary? I mean, Crescent Rose does tend to shock people the first time they see it, but she hasn't even taken her weapon out. How is this girl that scared of a tiny fifteen year old?

Ruby extends her hand to help the girl up while dawning a gentle smile. "Here."

However, this has the opposite reaction of what she wants as the faunus' ice blue eyes grow larger and she recoils in fear as she sticks her palm out to the black-haired girl. An ice blue glyph forms in front of her hand and collides with Ruby's, making her pull back her hand in pain and look to see what damage had been done. However, there's nothing wrong with it, it just hurts a little bit. While Ruby turns her wrist in her other hand, she looks back to where the girl was, only to find her missing. The younger teen looks around for a glimpse of the faunus and spots her running down the street.

"Hey, wait!" Ruby calls out before chasing after her.

The wolf-girl glances behind her to see the younger girl following her so she snaps her head back to her front and runs even faster. Ruby only uses a small part of her semblance this time to gain some speed, but the thief realizes that she's being gained on and a glyph forms under her feat as she turns into an allyway. Ruby stares in awe as glyphs are formed on the sides of buildings and as the girl in front of her leaps from the glyph underneath her feet and begins to parkour on the walls. The caped girl shakes her head to snap out of it and puts more speed into her semblance. Ruby looks up at the girl when she gets underneath her and the faunus glances to her as well before snapping her head away. A few seconds later, the wolf-girl backflips off the wall and lands a few feet behind her pursuer. Ruby looks back at the girl in surprise, but ends up crashing into a wall made of glyphs as a result. Ruby shakes her head to rid herself of her dizziness and turns back to find another glyph wall in between her and the girl. The faunus stares at her for a moment before running back in the direction that they came from.

"Hold on a second!" shouts Ruby as she pushes herself off the ground.

She tries to climb the wall but the top is too high for her to reach. With that fact, Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose and uses it to latch on to the top of the conjured wall before clambering over that way. A few seconds later, and she's once again startling the faunus girl by the use of her semblance, with her weapon placed back in it's holster. The girl doesn't fall over from surprise this time, but she does recoil back a little ways.

"Would you please stop running away from me?" questions Ruby. "I told you I would buy your dust... just give the guy his money back.

The white-haired girl looks back to the shop, _From Dust Till Dawn, _which is once again in view as the two girls are back to where they began after the oldest of them turned around in the alleyway. She then turns back to Ruby and the silver-eyed girl's heart sinks a little bit when the scarred-girl removes her rapier from it's resting place and points it at her.

"H-hey, wait!" Ruby exclaims at the action. "I don't want to fight you!"

The girl continues to glare at Ruby before pointing her head to the side as to signal the younger girl to walk away.

"No, I'm not leaving. You need to return the stuff you stole."

The older girl lets out a nasal sigh and she turns the chamber in her rapier before slashing a line of fire at the girl in front of her. Ruby lets out a small yelp and dives from the attack, rolling onto one knee and simultaneously removing Crescent Rose from her back. The blue-eyed girl is obviously surprised by the weapon, and even more so when Ruby spins the scythe around a few times as she stands up before slamming the blade down into the concrete afterward; making the faunus stare into a gun barrel. The girl with snow-white-hair rotates her weapon's chamber again and spins around before slamming the blade into the ground, sending spikes of ice at Ruby. The girl with silver eyes removes her weapon from the street and uses her semblance to get away from the attack. She moves behind the girl and attempts to bring her weapon down on top of her, but the faunus quickly turns around and blocks the attack. She goes for a slash to Ruby's side, but the latter scoots her body and makes an attack towards the back of her opponent's head. Neither side gains any ground for a moment or two until the white-haired girl slides underneath a horizontal slash at her midsection by Crescent Rose and stands up behind Ruby, kicking her in the back immediately after.

Ruby turns back around and slashes her scythe at the girl again, but a glyph forms under the thief's feet and she speeds away from it. The white-haired girl once again attempts to hit her black-haired opponent in the back, but the latter uses her own semblance to be able to meet the attack. For the next thirteen seconds, that's how the fight goes. Semblance vs semblance, as the two move from one location to the other and slash at one another faster than the eye can see. It only stops when Ruby manages to jab the thief in the gut with the back of her weapon, making her lean over for a second. As the wolf-girl does this, Ruby spins her weapon around in the air before swinging it at the girl. However, the faunus creates a glyph to stop the attack, making Ruby start to fall backwards from the closeness of it. Using the opportunity, the girl spins her weapon's chamber again and jabs the cloaked girl in the side, sending her flying back with the use of gravity dust.

As Ruby soars through the air on her back, she eventually grips her other hand to her weapon and swings the scythe over her head. In doing so, she flips her body and digs the weapon into the concrete, breaking it apart as she slides back for a few more seconds. After finally stopping herself, Ruby begins to fire upon the girl. The faunus runs from the shots but Ruby eventually nails her in the ankle and she faceplants on the ground. The scarred girl rolls sideways, finally resting on her knee, and spins her rapier's chamber again. Ruby and the girl stare at one another, waiting for the other to make a move as the latter stands up. They each slowly slide one foot on the ground and continue to watch their opponent until the white-haired girl swings her sword diagonally and sends flames at the younger of the two.

Ruby dives out of the way and front rolls on the ground before quickly getting up and charging the girl. The two weapons collide once again and more flames emerge from the rapier, temporarily blinding both of them from the attack being at such close range. However, Ruby recovers first and swipes the girl's legs out from under her with one of her own before lifting herself onto Crescent Rose, which is currently stuck into the concrete again, and quickly swings herself around before kicking her opponent in the gut with both feet. The older girl tumbles across the ground for two or three yards before recovering and turning her weapon's chamber once again and slamming her rapier into the ground. As Ruby is mid jump as to get away from the spikes, the white-haired girl raises her weapon into the air and spins around, pointing the rapier at the red reaper. Several small glyphs appear around the thief before they get sent flying at Ruby when the girl points her weapon at her.

Before the black-haired girl can touch the ground, the glyphs attach to Ruby's wrists, ankles, and waist, leaving her stuck in the air. The white-haired girl then sends more ice spike at Ruby, this time they hit their mark and Ruby is sent back. She screams in pain once she hits the ground but begins to stand again whilst shaking her head. She looks back to where the girl was only to find her missing, but a quick turn to the left reveals that the girl is climbing a ladder to a tall building to get away from the fight in the hopes that her opponent won't see her. Ruby chases her up the roof and the red reaper fires her weapon behind herself once she reaches to top. Using the recoil and her own semblance, Ruby flies at the girl with amazing speed and hits her across the back, sending her skidding across the "ground."

The girl uses a glyph to launch herself into the air before creating another one at her feet, launching herself at the silver-eyed girl. The girl's attempt to impale her younger opponent is in vain as the latter activates her semblance to take a quick step to the side. Ruby punches the girl in the face, seeing as how she is too close range to use her weapon, only to leave herself open long enough for the white-haired girl to deliver a punch of her own to Ruby's gut. This action is followed up by a headbutt that forces the younger girl to take two steps back. The eldest of the two attempts to run her opponent through, however, Ruby shifts Crescent Rose into it's gun form and uses it as a shield. After pushing the faunus' weapon away, Ruby changes her weapon back to it's scythe form and makes a horizontal slash at the girl. However, the blue-eyed girl backflips over the attack and creates a glyph under Ruby's feet after landing back on the roof. The older of the two points her index and middle fingers as they lay against one another upwards, commanding the glyph to send her opponent flying into the air. As Ruby falls back down, the girl rotates her weapon's chamber again before readying herself for an attack. Ruby faceplants into the rooftop, dropping Crescent Rose in the process, and lifts her upper body off the ground to spot her opponent with her sword pulled back as if it were about to be pulled out of a sheath.

Ruby's eyes widen as the girl jabs her rapier forward, sending a blast of flames at her. The younger girl quickly lowers her head to the ground and covers her skull with her hands in anticipation... but the blow never comes. Ruby opens her eyes and slowly looks up to see a blond woman standing in front of her, a riding crop in her hand and a purple glyph that seems to have stopped the attack. The white-haired girl stares at her in shock before her mouth drops into a frown and she slashes her blade over and over in diagonal strikes at the woman, but she just keeps on deflecting the fire and making it either scorch the stone below or light up the night sky. The two then send their own glyphs at one another, the creations colliding and creating a bright light. The blonde keeps on walking towards the thief and the latter begins to send dust attack after dust attack at her in desperation as she backs up. Ruby just stares in awe at the sight before her. The woman, a huntress, is deflecting ice, lighting, and even gravity and not breaking a sweat! She's so cool!

The white-haired girl has gone into full panic mode and is attacking faster than ever before, however none of it matters as the purple-caped woman keeps her steady approach. The girl finally runs out of room to back up and her feet hit the ledge, forcing her to balance herself as to stay on top of the roof. The girl looks absolutely terrified of the blonde and acts more like a cornered animal than anything else in her struggle... ironic for a faunus. Eventually, the huntress flicks her weapon, disarming the thief as her weapon is flung away from her grasp. The girl looks to her weapon before turning back to face the blonde, who is currently glaring at her. The faunus looks over her shoulder to the ground below her before once again facing the blonde. Making her decision, the girl jumps from the ledge to avoid capture, but is almost immediately trapped in a purple aura and forced to her knees in a position as if her wrists were chained to the ground. She tries her hardest to escape via violently lashing about as she screams in frustration and panic... even a few tears actually fall from her eyes. She stays that way until her strength finally gives out after several seconds of trying to break free and she drops to the material below her, having fainted from exhaustion after using up all the energy she had left.

The woman then lowers her crop and pushes her glasses up as she sighs, only turning to the girl behind her when the latter says: "You're a huntress. Can I have your autograph?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Thanks for the feedback! I'll try and improve the fights for you guys but other than that, I'm glad you seem to enjoy it.**

**Okay, begin!**

* * *

So far, a year has gone by and thank the gods no one has learned that his child is an abomination. An entire damn year of nothing but fear in the back of his mind. Jacques Schnee, afraid. What a load of garbage. Before his second born ever leaves her room, Willow makes sure that the girl's tail is hidden in her clothing. Speaking of his wife, she decided to name the cause of all of his worries Weiss. The name means "white," a color associated with purity... which she is anything but. His second born is a disgusting animal and nothing but a headache. If his hair wasn't already the color of snow, she would have surely turned it that way. What did he ever do to deserve this? As if on cue, Klein opens the doors to the library, carrying a tray with a mug of coffee on one hand and holding the hand of little Weiss Schnee with the other.

"My apologies, sir, but she was just dying to see her father." explains the butler.

Jacques sighs in an annoyed fashion before motioning Klein to come forwards.

"Daddy!" the young Weiss shouts happily as she runs up grabs onto her father's leg.

Klein lets out a small chuckle at the scene before setting down his boss' coffee.

"You two don't get a lot of time together, it's nice to see her still have such a strong connection to you, sir." he states.

"Well, I'm a busy man." Jacques replies devoid of emotion as he looks down to Weiss as she stares at him with a joyous expression.

"Very true, sir. Is there anything else that you would like to request of me?"

"Yes, I would like you to take Weiss and entertain her in my stead."

"Sir?"

"As I said, I am a busy man, and I would like what little free time I have to myself... and Weiss is far too young to even grasp the concept of learning." 'Not that I would even consider letting the mutt prepare to take over the company. Her kind doesn't even deserve the privilege of being in my household in the slightest.'

"Very well... Come along, Ms. Schnee." Klein says reluctantly as he once again holds out his hand for Weiss to take.

"But Daddy..." the little wolf begins.

"Is in the middle of something. You may see him later."

"Oh... okay."

Weiss walks over and grabs the butler's hand before the two begin to depart from the room. The heiress looks back to her father in the hopes of at least a smile, but she doesn't even get that as Jacques Schnee continues to read his book with no trace of emotion on his face. Weiss' eyes begin to tear up just a little as she looks down at the floor in front of her.

* * *

_Present Day..._

Blue eyes flicker open groggily to find her face pressed down on some kind of silver surface that's cold to the touch. Metal? The white-haired girl slowly picks her head up from the surface. Yep, it's a metal table. ...Wait a minute. She was on a rooftop just a second ago, why is she sleeping against a table? After a moment of thinking, the girl remembers her encounter with the caped individuals, becoming completely awakened by the memory. The girl looks around frantically at her surroundings: one overhead light, dark gray walls, a large mirror built into one of said walls, one empty metal chair facing her on the other side of the table, and a locked metal door. Unaware of what her situation exactly is, the girl darts up out of her chair, resulting in her hitting her hands against the bottom of the table. That's when she feels the cold carbon steel around her wrists. She lifts up her hands to find herself locked in a pair of handcuffs. The thief's eyes expand even wider at the sight and she desperately tries to remove the offending item via striving to pull her hands apart, hitting the chain links against the top of the chair, that she apparently slept in, repeatedly, and even going as far as attempting to bite the cuffs off.

All the while, she remains unaware of the three individuals watching her through the one-way glass.

"When did she wake up?" questions the blonde-haired huntress from earlier that night, Glynda Goodwitch, after a few minutes of watching the girl.

"About one minute before you both walked in here. You only missed the beginning of this little fit by a few seconds." the posted guard replies.

It's at this point that the white-haired prisoner gives up her struggle and sits against one of the walls with her face buried in her knees, wrapping her tail around her feet.

"Personally, I don't even see why you want to speak with the kid. All these Faunus are criminals in one way or the other; so I don't understand why individuals of your statures would even bother with this interrogation of such a low level scum." the guard continues.

Ozpin doesn't say a word and just continues to watch the girl attempting to hide away from the world. He won't show it as to stay on the authorities' good side, but he can't stand persons such as the security officer to his right. Some people can be so small minded that it's painful. The only thing that they are doing is fueling the flames of frustration and revenge. Beacon's headmaster then narrows his eyes at the cuffs around the girl's wrists. The metal device may as well have become a part of her bone with it digging into her skin the way it is. How can he tell if she's wearing long sleeves? Because her shirt's cuffs weren't red when he first saw his employee carry the girl inside the building. This is the kind of attitude and treatment that caused the White Fang to turn into what they are now.

"Remove the cuffs." Ozpin orders.

"What?" questions the guard. "And let the freak...?"

"Remove them."

The guard grumbles underneath his breath as he removes the keys from his pocket and heads for the cell door.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Glynda asks.

"Glynda," Ozpin interrupts. "look at her. The cuffs of her shirt are stained red. She's in pain."

The combat instructor turns her head back to the girl and her eyes widen when she spots the blood seeping through the thief's turtleneck. Shortly after she finally takes note of the wounds, the guard grabs the faunus girl's arm and pulls her up off the ground as she tries to break free of his grasp. Glynda turns to storm inside the room when the guard finally removes the cuffs, throwing the girl to the ground afterward; however, she is stopped in her tracks by Ozpin's cane stuck out in front of her, blocking her path.

"But...!" the headmaster's assistant begins.

"I don't like what just occurred any more than you do, however, we cannot afford to antagonize the police force. We have enough problems right now. Now, if he were beating her... that would be another case entirely. But for now, let this one act slide." Ozpin interrupts while having never removed his eyes from the glass, making Glynda grumble to herself and turn back to the two-way mirror.

"There." the guard says in an annoyed fashion upon his return.

"Good, you may go now." Ozpin replies with his eyes still focused on the girl who has gone back to her prior position.

"Eh? But I'm the guard, my orders..." said guard stops mid sentence when he realizes two things. One: the headmaster of Beacon won't even look in his direction, he's being completely ignored. Two: Ozpin does have a pretty good amount of the authority within the police force... meaning that the old man could fire him then and there and even his sergeant wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The guard doesn't say another word and turns to leave the room, placing the door keys on the table by the door.

"Repulsive." Glynda states in regard to the officer.

"Indeed," agrees Ozpin. "but at least they all aren't like that. Now, as for the girl..."

"You're not seriously thinking of letting her join the school, are you? You already accepted Taiyang and Summer's daughter two years early, and now you're going to try to get this girl to join as well? She's a thief. We don't even know who she is nor where she came from, and yet you're willing to allow her into Beacon? Just like that?"

"Part of what you just said is one of the reasons that I want her at my school. There are no records of this child anywhere. No fingerprints, no date of birth, no name, nothing at all. You know the threat we are facing, Glynda, and we need to figure out whether or not she is a part of it. I'm going to speak with her and if I can trace her back to our enemy, she will be locked up; if not, I will offer her a place at Beacon."

"But what if you can't figure out if she really is a danger or not?"

"Then she will still be invited. After all, it would be a lot easier to keep an eye on her that way."

"The same could be said if she remained here."

"True, but you must consider what would happen to her if she were to extend her stay at where she is now. Humans and faunus are on the worst terms that they have been since the war, and considering how a majority of the guards and prisoners are human, and many likely racist as the man who was here only moments ago... you know what will eventually transpire. She'll die."

Glynda turns her attention back to the possibly crying girl on the other side of the two-way mirror. The headmaster is right, it's not uncommon for faunus prisoners to wind up dead from anywhere within a few days of their capture to the day of their release.

"However, as of right now, I don't believe her to be of any threat at all."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, if you will follow me, I believe that I can show you."

The headmaster doesn't say another word as he turns and walks past his assistant and to the iron door, picking up the keys that the guard had left behind.

The snow-white wolf faunus visibly flinches when the sound of the metallic door unlocking reaches her ears. She doesn't look up as it opens, nor when it closes once again. Her face stays buried in her knees as the sound of footsteps and some kind of metal device hitting the floor every other step echoes throughout the room. She's awaits the harsh sound of voices being raised and the feel of the metallic device, some kind of staff by the sound, against her body... but it never comes. The noise just stops and no pain is ever received. Nor is there yelling. The only audible sound to her is her own quiet breathing. Trying to figure out what in the world is going on, the girl slowly raises her head and spots the blonde woman from earlier standing next to an older man that's sitting in the chair opposite of where she was not to long ago.

"Come on," Ozpin says. "we aren't going to hurt you."

The young thief looks back and fourth between the two with skepticism. Usually when she hears that line, it's spoken with some form of malice, but his voice... actually sounds soft. Like he means what he's actually saying. That... hasn't happened in a long time.

"Come. Sit." Beacon's headmaster requests again.

The girl just stares at him for a few moments longer before slowly removing herself from the floor. It takes her another moment before she begins to move in the two adults' direction with her head faced down to the floor and one hand resting atop the other vertically in front of her.

"Now, can you tell me your name?" questions Ozpin a few seconds after the scarred girl finally sits down in the chair across from him.

The girl remains silent and keeps her gaze downward.

"Well then... how about I just call you Weiss?"

This comment sparks a reaction out of the thief, making her eyes grow wide and forcing her head to jerk up and face the older man.

"After all, I can't keep on calling you "girl," now can I?" Ozpin continues, pretending not to notice what just happened. "So, Weiss, where did you learn to do this?" he questions as Glynda turns her scroll around to face the teen, showing her battle with Ruby.

"I-Ice Wolf." the white-haired faunus replies weakly.

"Pardon?"

"Ice Wolf name is Ice Wolf," she announces more clearly. "not Wei... Wei..."

"Weiss."

"Yeah, that."

"Very well then, Ms. Wolf, where did you learn to fight like this?"

"... Ice Wolf is self-taught."

"You taught yourself to fight?" Glynda questions, not believing the answer.

"Ice Wolf live on streets, had to learn to survive. No one is going to teach faunus to defend themself."

"I assume no one taught you to speak properly either?"

"No, Ice Wolf left for dead at young age."

"What age was that?" asks Ozpin.

"Ice Wolf remember someone once saying she was five shortly before incident."

"But children know how to speak correctly for the most part by then." Glynda argues.

"Her change of speech may be due to the trauma of the event." Ozpin informs his assistant before continuing to speak with the blue-eyed thief. "How old are you now?"

"Ice Wolf... don't really know. Been a while since abandonment." the girl replies.

"Hmmm..." Ozpin noises thoughtfully as he folds his hands, resting his elbows on the table before resting his chin on his hands. "How did you unlock your semblance?"

"What with all the question? You not have thing better to do than waist time with freak?"

"Can you please answer the question?"

"Fine. Ice Wolf jump off roof once, shiny thing appear below her and stop her from falling to death. Happy?"

"Interesting. The "shiny thing" is called a glyph, Ms. Wolf. Tell me, what exactly were you doing jumping off of a rooftop?"

"Ice Wolf...no want to be on Remnant anymore... not last time she try either. Most recent being when Ice Wolf get caught."

Glynda gasps in shock at the news and Ozpin just continues to look at the girl knowingly. With the life... well, lives, he keeps on having to go through, he can relate with wanting to just finally leave the world. That's how once of his previous lives actually ended, because he wanted out; but alas, he's forever cursed to walk the face of Remnant.

"Well, I suppose that it's a good thing that you unlocked it when you did." the headmaster states, causing the girl to look at him in surprise.

A good thing? A human thinks that a faunus failing to kill themself is a good thing? However, before the wolf girl can ask why he would even care whether she lives or not, the next question that the grey-haired man asks confuses the faunus girl even more.

"What do you think of the Schnee family?"

Why would he ask that? Of everything else that he could have asked her, he asks about what she thinks of the Schnees? But deciding that she needs to give an answer, because he apparently won't stop asking until she does, she says: "Those word no belong in same sentence. Schnee and family do not mix. Like saying bread is toaster. Just because the latter is assumed to be with former, it not always associated."

"And your weapon," Ozpin continues, motioning with his hand for Glynda to pull up a picture of said item. "looks strikingly similar in appearance to a rapier that went missing from a Schnee warehouse four years ago... and the only way inside is with a memorized security code as it is near impossible to break in seeing as how the roof and walls are made up of an almost indestructible stone. So, Ms. Wolf, how ever did you get in there?"

"Ice Wolf... knew code."

"Last question." with this statement, Ozpin's voice had turned deathly serious. "What are your thoughts on humanity? Not just the humans, but the faunus as well?"

"Humans hate faunus. Faunus hate humans. Only know a few who not treat Ice Wolf like trash, so some good Ice Wolf suppose. Ice Wolf not hate either of them... just no have a lot of trust because of experience. You are actually longest discussion Ice Wolf had with anyone in long time."

Satisfied with the answers given, the headmaster of Beacon Academy leans back in his chair and remains silent for a few moments.

"Glynda," he begins. "this child is not a threat to us."

"Threat?" the wolf-girl questions.

Leaning back over the table, Ozpin adds: "However, you are a threat to your father, Ms. Schnee."

At the statement, the both the girl and Glynda's eyes practically jump out of their skulls... albeit for different reasons. For the former, it's out of sheer horror; and for the latter, it's of utter shock.

"Ozpin, you're not seriously saying that this girl is...?" Glynda begins to question.

"Weiss Schnee, yes." Ozpin interrupts.

"How...?"

"I will explain in a moment." the headmaster announces before turning back to the girl sitting in front of him with her face pointed at the floor once again. "You are Weiss Schnne, are you not?"

The room becomes eerily silent for nearly a minute before the faunus in question answers: "... What gave away?"

"Many factors. To begin, your appearance of blue eyes and white hair is the trademark of the Schnee family. Then when I questioned as to whether or not I may call you 'Weiss,' you sprung up your head pretty quickly and objected to the name shortly after... even having difficulty saying the name, yourself. After that, you mentioned living on the streets after being abandoned at the age of five... the same age when little Weiss Schnee was supposedly murdered by the White Fang. Your semblance of creating ice-like glyphs is the hereditary semblance of the Schnee family. You were absolutely certain in your statement about the words 'Schnee' and 'family' not belonging together within the same sentence. Finally, you know the codes used by the SDC and were able to successfully infiltrate one of their warehouses and 'obtain' Willow Schnee's former weapon without getting caught or even alerting any guards... as if you knew when and where each of their shifts took place."

The room grows silent once more until the girl, now revealed to be the youngest daughter of Jacques Schnee, says one simple word with a shaky voice: "Oh..."

Catching the tone, Ozpin adds: "If you are afraid that we are turning you in to your father, you have nothing to worry about. He will never know that you're here."

With that said, Weiss looks back up to the headmaster with a few tears forming in her eyes and silent ones on her cheeks. Is he really going to say nothing? He's not going to make her go back? That's why she's crying. She was so scared of going back to her father... what he would do to her, but this man is saying that he will keep her a secret from him. She hasn't been this happy in years. So now, what were once tears created by terror, are now tears of joy.

"What?" his assistant questions in surprise. "You don't want to go public with this? That man needs to be put on trial for what he did! Leaving a five-year-old to fend for herself! He needs a kick in the d...!"

"That's enough, Glynda." Ozpin states with a hand raised. "Yes, Jacques Schnee is a terrible person and deserves all of that and more... but if she does not want her identity revealed, we shall not do so. I think she deserves to have at least one wish granted, do you not?"

Glynda stands in silent anger at her boss' incompetence until she looks into the eyes of the girl. Seeing the fear inside those ice-blue orbs of the child calms her down and she finally understands why she wouldn't want to be revealed to be alive. Glynda has no idea as to the kind of hell that Weiss has experienced, what she's been through. Jacques could just buy or threaten his way out of a trial with the power that he holds... then he would come for his daughter. Glynda releases a sigh and lets her shoulders drop a small amount before nodding in agreement with Ozpin.

"Good." Ozpin states. "Now that that's settled, I have another question I'd like to ask."

"Ice Wolf thought you already asked final question." Weiss says with narrowed eyes.

"I meant that was the last interrogation question, this is of much nicer means." The faunus says nothing in reply so the headmaster sees this as his cue to continue. "Do you know what Beacon Academy is?"

"Place teenagers go learn to fight if Ice Wolf correct. Heard about it few times."

"Basically. My school teaches young men and women such as yourself to hone their skills to become keepers of the peace in the world that we live in."

"Your?"

"Ah, yes. I haven't properly introduced myself, have I? My name is Professor Ozpin, I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy. So, Weiss, would you like to attend my school and improve your knowledge, as well as capabilities on the battlefield for the greater good of the world?"

"What the world ever done for Ice Wolf? Beside, would Ice Wolf not be recognized?"

"It is doubtful that anyone would make the same connections that I did... seeing as how everyone believes you to be dead. No one goes looking for the deceased, Weiss. No one will even consider you to possibly be at Beacon. Furthermore, white hair and blue eyes are not exclusive to your family tree; and even though your semblance is the same as the other Schnees'... semblances are not always hereditary. After all, imagine how many different ones there are in the world anyway, the originality has to die at some point. Finally, your weapon will not be a problem as most people aren't even aware that your mother ever owned a weapon, and your father likely never bothered to even pay attention to what it looks like... seeing as how you've been using it for four years now. As for your first question, I cannot truly answer. Only you know what Remnant has put you through. However, I am aware that you know what it's like to be pushed to the side and have your face spat in. The world is a cruel place, but do you enjoy knowing that you aren't the only one being treated like that? This is your opportunity to do something about it. You can have an impact, to change the way that things are so no one else has to endure the suffering that you have. So, do you except my proposition?"

Weiss turns what she's been told over in her head a few times before finally speaking. "Prahbo… prabo…?"

"My offer." explains Ozpin.

"... What catch?"

"The catch, is that you must do your best to pass your classes and to follow the school rules. Aside from that, there is nothing. I will arrange for your living expenses, textbooks, and anything else that you require seeing as how you cannot pay for yourself. Of course, we will need to forge some fake documents and an ID for you as well. But not to worry, nothing will even contain the word 'Schnee' without your consent."

If Weiss accepts, she gets free food, shelter, and protection. If she declines, she'll likely be left here... which would not go well at all. With an somewhat fearful tone, she says: "Ice Wolf... agree."

"Very good. Glynda, please make the arrangements for Weiss to exit the building without having security on her tail."

The headmistress doesn't say a word and exits the room to do as requested. When she's gone, Ozpin turns back to the second-born Schnee who once again has tears falling from her face.

"Why?" she questions. "Why being so nice? Why you care?"

"Because," replies Ozpin. "you have been through a lot of pain and have nowhere to go. Although... now that Glynda is gone, there is one more thing that I would like to ask if it's alright with you."

The white-haired faunus turns her head to the side as if to say "huh?"

"If what I believe to be correct really is the case, I doubt that I could stop her from straight up murdering your father." The headmaster doesn't get a reply from the girl in front of him so he continues. "You weren't just abandoned by your father, were you?"

"... How you keep doing that?" Weiss questions.

"I've been alive a very long time, Weiss, and in that time... it becomes very easy to read an individual like a book from just their eyes. So... your father hurt you in some way, didn't he?"

Weiss says nothing but responds by nodding her head and pointing to the scar over her eye.

"Anything else?" Ozpin asks with concern.

Once again, no words escape the faunus' lips. However, this time she stands. She turns her back to the headmaster and just starts to lift up her shirt when the headmaster speaks again.

"You do not have to show me." he states, making Weiss pull what little of her shirt that came up back down. "You have scars on your back as well." Ozpin understands.

The wolf-girl turns back around and nods in response. Beacon's headmaster then leans back in his chair and closes his eyes for a moment. He knows that Jacques Schnee isn't the most pleasant individual... but this? Beating his own daughter likely for just being a faunus? It's an unspeakable act that can never be redeemed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: Once again, thank you for leaving suggestions to make the story more enjoyable and I'm glad that you all have an interest in it. :)**

**Okay, begin!**

* * *

"Daddy?" a young Weiss questions. "Why can't I go outside and play?"

"Because you are of Schnee blood," her father answers dryly. "and those of Schnee blood do not 'play.'"

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Oh, okay." the white-haired child says sadly as she looks at the floor. However, her gaze turns back to her father when she questions: "Then how do I make fwiends?"

"Friends?"

"Yeah! Like the people on tv have!"

"Friendship is a lie, child. Besides, even if it wasn't, you could never obtain any."

"Wh-why?" young Weiss asks whilst on the verge of tears.

"Because you are a beast." Jacques tells her with no remorse. "A freak of nature. You, are even worse than any other faunus in this world."

"I-I-I'm sowwy."

"You should be. You are a disgrace to the Schnee name and to existence in general. You will never inherit the company... and you will never be my daughter."

"I-I-I-I'm sowwy!" Weiss apologizes again, crying uncontrollably as she does so.

"Quiet!" Jacques barks, immediately following the demand with a backhand to the little girl's face, knocking her onto the floor.

Silent tears continue to flow down Weiss' cheeks as she continues to lay on the floor, looking back up at her father.

"Your apologies mean nothing." Jacques brutishly continues. "Now go to your room and stay there until further notice."

Afraid of the man's wrath, the sniffling child immediately picks herself up off the floor and starts to run to her room. However, she gets yelled at for doing so and walks back the rest of the way. Her hand rests on her left arm the entire way to her room. She landed on it when her father had knocked her down and it hurt her a lot. Upon reaching her destination, the little girl has to stand on her tiptoes in order to reach the door handle. When she enters her room, Weiss closes the door behind her and throws herself onto the floor by the window. Why not put herself on her bed? That's because she doesn't have one.

_"You don't get a bed." _Jacques once told her when she asked why Winter had one and she didn't. _"People get beds, dogs sleep on the floor."_

Of course, Willow doesn't know about this as her husband has set up a projection of a bed in the room. But that's all it is, a fake image... just like Weiss. She has to hide her tail because she's a monster. Her mother is the only one who will ever love her, because she has to. It's like the expression 'a face only a mother could love.' Only that it's not her face that's ugly... it's her entirety. Klein and Winter are only nice because they don't know what she really is. After crying for several minuets, the young wolf-girl looks up at her window. She watches a trio of birds chirping and flying around happily, wishing that she too could be free.

* * *

_Present Day..._

Sixteen years later, and those same ice-blue eyes are watching a trio of happy birds with envy. However, this time it's not from a bedroom... not that that place could even be considered as such, but from an airship as she ignores whatever the blonde woman, Glynda, is saying from a projection. Although, it is somewhat of the same scenario. It's not her choice to be there, but it's because of someone else's actions. When she was little, it was her father. Now, it's because of some kid that wanted to play hero. At least that Ozpin guy agreed not to reveal who she is.

Why is she placing so much trust in him? Is it because he's so nice? That he didn't scream at/hurt her and was appalled by the scars' existence, not her for having them? Why should she trust him? Every time anyone else has played the nice card, it was just to hurt her in the long run. Somehow, he just seems genuine. Like he understands her pain. So for now, she'll trust him. Besides... free food and shelter in a place that isn't a half destroyed and abandoned building is a welcome upgrade. However, one slip up and she's gone. He gives her one reason to fear him, and she's running away.

Although for now, she'll stay at the school and try to do her best and stay as unnoticed as physically possible. After all, she doesn't have to interact with anyone more than what's required. When she feels stressed or just afraid, she will have her own room to hide away in. Besides, Ozpin was also king enough to have his assistant take her to get a new outfit... because being covered in dirt and blood would definitely draw attention. The blonde, Glynda, seems to think that it's just for the sake of being 'presentable.' Weiss doesn't care how she looks. She just doesn't want people looking at her.

Speaking of her new attire, Weiss now dawns a white, long bell-sleeved bolero jacket with an emblem of a cracked icicle custom printed on the back. She wears this over a white, slim-fitted tank top, and also has on a pair of ice-blue jeans and white sneakers. After seeing some of the many other teens on board the Bullhead, her outfit is likely the least likely to catch anyone's eye. Good. Now if everything else goes like she wants it to, things can't be too bad... right?

"Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!"

… Shit.

As Ruby backs away while her sister freaks out about getting barf on her shoe, the culprit begins stumbling towards her with his hands over his mouth again.

"Get away! Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" the red cloaked girl repeatedly screams as she runs to the other side of the ship to get away from the boy.

After watching him run off to the hatch door, waiting for the ship to land, Ruby removes herself from the wall and looks around for her sister. She doesn't find her, but she does spot someone else that she recognizes. The white-haired girl from last night is staring at her in disbelief, but is wearing nicer clothes than she was back then and doesn't have any sticks in her hair... still some dirt though. Ruby stares back at her for only a moment before a few people pass by the girl, blocking her from sight; and when they get out of the way, she's gone. Ruby looks around to find her, but she just disappeared. Did she just imagine it? There's no way that a Beacon initiate would be a thief... is there?

Once the Bullhead finally lands, Weiss throws her sling bag over her shoulder and hurries out of the ship while being covered by the largest mass of crowd that she can find, knowing that the younger girl would be searching for her. Once her cover begins to disperse, Weiss rushes to the side of the ship; waiting for the red reaper to exit so she won't have to watch her back when heading into the school. Now that she's actually looking at it, Beacon is huge! This is a school?! Are they all castles?! After shaking her head to snap out of her shock, Weiss takes note of how pretty the scenery really is. Not even realizing that she's doing it, the wolf-girl begins to walk forwards as to take a closer look. Unfortunately, she doesn't even realize that she's doing so until someone slams into her, with both of them falling as a result.

"Oww." Ruby mumbles as she sits up, rubbing the back of her head. "What did I run into?"

The scythe-wielding fifteen-year-old then turns around, looking into a familiar pair of ice-blue eyes.

"Hey, I know you! You're the girl from last night!" Ruby half screams. Then realizing the faunus is "what" she ran into, the silver-eyed girl jumps up. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to crash into you!"

Ruby then sticks her hand out in order to help the white-haired girl up, but once again, the latter flinches at the action. However, instead of forming a glyph in between herself and her "attacker," Weiss crab-walks away from the younger girl for a few feet before quickly picking herself up from the concrete. Once again, Ruby is confused at the girl's response.

"A-are you okay?" the girl getting bumped up two years asks with concern after an awkward silence is created in between the two for a few moments.

Weiss' eyes suddenly shift from those of fear to those of anger and she doesn't answer the question, but instead growls in annoyance as she begins to walk away. She tries to grab ahold of her bag's strap, only to find nothing there. She then turns around, spotting her bag laying on the ground, and walks over to it. The wolf-girl bends over and picks it up before moving onto collecting a few of the dust vials that had fallen out.

Deciding that she should help... since it was her fault, Ruby grabs a few vials herself. However, when she hands them to the older girl, the latter glares at her and snatches the containers from her hand. Sadly, one of the fire dust vials was cracked from the fall and some of it's contents leaked out with the action, causing Ruby to sneeze. The result was Weiss getting covered in ash, getting flung back two yards, and obtaining several burns from the closeness of the accidental attack.

After glaring at the cloaked girl, Weiss slowly begins to pick herself up from the newly formed crater she was on the edge of and silently mumbles: "Too bad that no kill Ice Wolf."

"Awk! I'm so sorry!" Ruby screams as she rushes to help the faunus up.

However, as soon as the red reaper grabs ahold of the white wolf's arm, the latter growls in anger and tears her limb away in protest and fear.

"She said that she's sorry." a new voice speaks up, making both girl's turn towards the new arrival. "That's a lot more than some people are willing to give out to a faunus."

Weiss picks herself up off the ground and stares at the vial of fire dust in the new girl's hand.

"Here," she says, handing out the item. "you should really make sure that your bag's closed properly. What happened could have been a lot worse than a hole in the ground."

The former heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, if she ever truly was one, quickly grabs the container from the girl's hand before turning around and speed walking away. This isn't going at all like she'd hoped. First, the red and black girl was on the same ship as her, then the troublemaker ran into her and knocked her over. During the latter, Weiss' dust was thrown out of her bag, catching the attention of yet another person... and the white-haired girl was in the middle of an explosion. She needed to get out of there. Away from them. Away from the cloaked kid. Away from everyone.

Ruby just watches as the wolf faunus retreats. She was just trying to help... then again the mess was her fault... and the older girl is still most likely mad about last night. But she was robbing the old guy! Then again... the girl had looked like she needed the money. But Ruby offered to help her buy some things, she didn't need to steal it! How did she even get into Beacon anyway? Not to mention that she looks better than last night and not, ya'know… bloody and covered in dirt. Although she is still kinda dirty. This whole thing is just confusing. However, there is one thing that the red reaper knows...

"Well that could have gone better." Ruby mumbles under her breath.

Then remembering the girl with the bow on top of her head, the fifteen-year-old turns around.

"So what's...?"

Aaaand she's gone.

Where is this audio... aude… whatever the place is called supposed to be anyway? The headmaster told Weiss that he's going to make some sort of speech and that everyone has to listen to it before settling in for the night a few hours after the announcement ends. Until then, everyone will be given a tour of the school by a few different older years; two per group. Going back to the speech, Ozpin did say that for their story to work... some attention does need to be drawn to her. Why? Because the headmaster decided to have her pretend to be his granddaughter. That way no one would be suspicious as to why she will talk to him every now and then, so he can check up on her, why her last name won't be given out, and extra protection just to be sure the nobody will even consider her to be a Schnee at any point. Apparently, he has to announce that his 'grandchild' is attending the school because that's what any other 'granddad' who's a headmaster would do.

Eventually spotting the building, Weiss stops in her tracks due to the large group of people both inside and entering. The seventeen-year-old's grip tightens on her bag's strap and she takes a deep breath before finally heading inside. She thought that she would stick to the back wall in order to stay away from the crowd, but unfortunately, it would seem as though many other people had the same idea as every wall and corner is congested by other initiates. Weiss takes a deep breath and releases it before heading to the least crowded row of seats, sitting on the end so she can leave faster and not be blocked inside. Unfortunately, the furthest that she could get away from someone was one seat in between herself and some girl with long yellow hair.

When she bends down to carefully put her bag on the floor, just in case any more containers are broken, the blonde decides to yell out: "Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot!"

The sudden outburst causes Weiss' arm to shoot up, a force of habit for defense, with her bag still in her hand... meaning that the recoil from the action causes her bag to smash into her face. After putting her free hand over her nose, and giving the blonde a death-glare that the latter doesn't even notice, the wolf-faunus goes back to putting her bag down. When she stands up however, the following conversation just makes her freeze in place and causes her to be certain that existence itself straight up hates her... even though she believes that anyway.

"How's your first day goin', little sister?" asks the blonde.

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby questions with a hint of anger.

Why? Why does this kid keep showing up everywhere?

"Yikes. Meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school and there was some fire and I-I think some ice?"

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang irreverently asks.

Ruby scoffs. "I wish! Remember how I said that I got into a fight with a faunus last night? Well apparently she's here and I tripped and knocked her over, and she's still mad at me. I tried to help her pick up the dust that fell out of her bag and she snatched it away angrily. Then I sneezed, and then I exploded! And she was flung back several feet and I felt really really bad and I just wanted her to stop growling at me."

After staring at the cloaked girl throughout her story, Weiss growls in anger as if on que. Not in an attempt to start anything with the nuisance, but at fate for screwing with her and constantly making them cross paths.

The sudden noise causes Ruby to jump into her sister's arms. "Oh God, it's happening again!"

Yang then looks across her sister to the white-haired girl behind her, taking notice of the ash in her hair and the burn on her cheek. "Oh my God, you really exploded."

"It was an accident." Ruby explains before jumping down from her sister's arms.

The younger girl makes the claim again, this time to Weiss, but the latter has turned away from her and is just staring at the stage. "Please forgive m..."

"Leave Ice Wolf alone." Weiss interrupts in a quiet voice.

"H-huh?"

"Shut up and leave Ice Wolf alone." she says again, her vocals still too quiet for the other girls to completely understand.

"Look, uh... from everything I've heard, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" suggests Yang while scratching the back of her head.

"Yeah!" Ruby says enthusiastically and with relief that this whole thing could get better. "Great idea, sis!"

The younger girl then clears her throat and extends her hand. "Hello, uh... what did you say your name was again?"

Ruby once again takes note that the girl quickly retreats from her hand... she really should have thought about that. Because of this, the red reaper moves her limb to the back of her head and chuckles nervously. A silence overcomes the three as Weiss continues to stare at Ruby with uncertainty until Professor Ozpin walks on stage and clears his throat.

"Before we begin," the headmaster announces. "I would like to express how proud I am that my granddaughter has made it into my academy."

This 'information' gets some heads turning. Weiss really doesn't want to be in this position. People make her uneasy as is, now they're specifically looking around for her and whispering God knows what to one another... and now they will all be staring at her as soon as Ozpin says...

"Weiss, would you please raise your hand so that you can be recognized by your fellow initiates?"

Ruby and Yang take notice of how the girl standing next to them squeezes her eyes shut and lowers her head before very slowly raising her hand... shaking as she does so.

"Well, I guess that answers how she's here and not in jail." Yang whispers to her sister.

Weiss knows that people are staring at her. Whispering about her. She doesn't want this attention. She wants to be left alone. However, this is necessary so hopefully no one would consider to relate her to her father. So her hand stays in the air for about four more seconds as she prays for it to end soon until the headmaster finally speaks up again.

"You can lower your hand now, Weiss."

As soon as the words escape his lips, the wolf-girl's arm shoots down faster than Ruby eats her cookies. However, she keeps her eyes shut and her head down as Ozpin goes on with his speech. She doesn't even bother paying attention as she just wants to run away and hope that everyone will forget about her. Although she isn't paying any attention, she does notice that the voice changes from the headmaster's to a woman's, most likely Glynda. However, there is one word that she is actively listening for; and as soon as Glynda says 'dismissed,' Weiss grabs her bag and runs from the building as fast as physically possible.

"Was... was she crying?" Ruby questions with concern.

"I think so?" her sister replies.

"And did you see her when Ozpin asked her to raise her hand? It's like, she thought as though she would die or something. She did the same thing when Professor Goodwitch was approaching her when we were fighting."

"She's probably just really shy, Rubes... that and her and the headmaster probably aren't getting along with the whole 'robbing a dust shop' thing."

"Yeah... I guess you're right." the red reaper says sadly.

"Excuse me." a voice speaks out from behind them.

The sisters turn around to see the headmaster standing in front of them.

"Ah, Professor Ozpin!" Ruby yelps in surprise.

"Did you two happen to see where my granddaughter went off to?"

"Uh... she kinda ran out of the building." Yang tells him.

Ozpin sighs. "Thank you. Now, I believe that I must go make an apology."

"An apology?" questions Ruby.

"Yes, Weiss is rather shy and hates getting attention drawn on her... and you were correct, Ms. Xiao-Long, when you said that we had a discussion last night."

"Oh... I-I'm sorry, Professor." Yang apologizes.

"It's alright... but how about we keep that bit of information between the three of us and Glynda, hmm?"

""Yes, sir."" both girls reply.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me." the headmaster says before departing.

After a moment of silence, Yang leans over to her younger sister and says: "Told ya."

Three hours pass before everyone is dismissed for the night. Weiss is in the last batch of groups to be lead around the school and so she immediately heads for the ballroom when her tour is over. After running away from the meeting earlier, she had retreated until the building was out of sight, finally stopping to sit up against a tree and rub her face. She stayed like that until Ozpin showed up and talked to her, apologizing about drawing the attention to her but reminding her that it was necessary. They talked until her scroll had pinged with a voice message to meet two girls named Coco and Velvet in the courtyard. Now, on her way to her resting place for the night, she's keeping an eye on everyone around her. That they don't approach her. Why? Why does she have to be so afraid of everything? She knows that her father isn't here. That no one with contact with him is here... but the fear of being found by him is always in the back of her mind. She doesn't want to go back to him. What he did to her as a kid would be nothing compared to what he would do now.

Although, it's not only her father that concerns her. Her whole life, both humans and faunus have treated her worse than the trash on the streets. Why faunus too? Because they apparently don't get a good feeling from her, like there's something wrong with her. It's similar to how an actual animal knows when something is wrong and reacts to that feeling. It's true though. There is something wrong with her. She is a faunus who was born to human parents. A freak and a monster. Because of that, she's been beaten and betrayed her whole life. When she was on the streets, sometimes there were "nice" people... but in the end they just ended up taking whatever money she had or led her into a group of people who either tried to beat, kill, or rape her. She has good reasons as to not trust anyone.

Upon entering the ballroom, Weiss watches as Yang plops down next to Ruby and says something about a 'slumber party...' whatever that is. Because of their presence, the wolf faunus turns and walks to the other side of the building. However, she cannot find an area clear of people and when she thinks she does, more people walk in and make their beds there. Eventually, she just gives up and sits up in one of the windowsills. However, she never goes to sleep. She's too busy making sure that no one approaches her and that she's not being watched... that and Ruby and Yang are pretty loud for a little while. Now while some people get mad about it... it's the only thing that Weiss silently thanks the younger girl for.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Okay, this is a long one. I decided to just make all the Emerald Forest stuff one chapter since I was writing it all at once and didn't fell like figuring out where to split it up. Anyways, sorry for the wait and I hope ya'll enjoy the chapter. Also, I have made some slight adjustments to the previous chapters.**

**Okay, begin!**

* * *

"Winter?"

"Hmmm?" Winter replies sleepily.

"Can I sleep with you?"

The eldest child of the Schnee family slowly sits up in her bed and rubs her eyes before looking to face a young Weiss clutching a white stuffed bunny with a light-brown ribbon around it's neck... the only toy she owns.

"I-I... had a nightmare." the little wolf-girl says shyly.

"Again?" questions her human sister.

Weiss slowly nods in response and Winter takes note that the girl is on the verge of tears. The elder sister releases a sigh before forming a small smile and patting the space next to her. Weiss perks up at the action and runs over to her sister's bedside before climbing up. Winter just sits there and strokes her little sister's head as the latter is clinging to her waist. It's not uncommon for Weiss to have nightmares... as a matter of fact, she has them nearly every night. However, Winter cannot help but wonder why. Sure she would, and still does, have a nightmare every now and then... but nearly every night? Something has to be going on.

"Winter?" Weiss asks after about five minutes or so.

"Yes?" her sister replies.

"Do... d-do you think all funus are bad?"

Well this certainly took her by surprise. Why would Weiss even be asking her this? Unless...

"It's pronounced 'faunus,' Weiss, and are you asking this because you had a dream about the White Fang?"

"... Yes."

It's not a complete lie. She hears her father speak ill of them a few times a week. Although, her question was more than that. It was actually about her nightmare. She had dreamed that everyone found out what she was. That Klein and Winter hated her... that her sister hit her like her father does.

"The White Fang is a peaceful group, Weiss. They're not going to hurt you." Winter answers, obviously unknowing of the questions true intention.

"But..."

"Yes, there are some bad faunus who do hurt people, but that's only a few. So to answer your question, no. I do not believe that all faunus are bad. However, they are beneath us. They are not human, they are animals, and so we are sperate from them. I do not think that they are evil, but I could never see myself befriending one."

"O-okay..." Weiss says sadly.

Not knowing what impact that she just made, Winter kisses the top of her sister's head and the two lay down for the night. While Winter had pleasant dreams, Weiss was once again forced to see a hateful sister in her sleep. She 'relives' the person whom she loves most hate and scorn her, leaving a bright-pink handprint on the wolf-girl's cheek. However, it's even scarier this time around because now she knows that this nightmare could actually come to pass.

* * *

_Present Day..._

Five A.M. could not have come fast enough. Weiss had been bored out of her mind all night ever since her scroll died and she had apparently left the charger in the locker room. Ozpin told her to try and sleep at around 11:30, but she refused. How did he even know she was awake anyway? Probably a camera or two in here so he could figure out early on who any possible troublemakers might be. Anyway, the headmaster eventually gave up on trying to make her get some rest and told her she could leave the building at 5:00... so that's exactly what she's doing. Normally any other person would be tired from staying up all night, but she's not any other person. Weiss is no stranger to having a sleepless night or two because of either her father or living on the streets. She's actually been awake up to five days before. However, that's as long as she can go before the desire to sleep is completely dominant. As for today though, she'll be alright.

Weiss removes her stuffed rabbit from her lap, giving it a quick hug before putting it inside her bag. After that, the faunus slowly descends from the windowsill and makes her way past her fellow initiates as quietly as she can before heading out through the doors. Once outside, the girl heads for the locker rooms inside the building containing the arena used for combat classes. Upon entering her destination, Weiss finds her charger laying on the bench in front of her locker. She thought someone would have taken it. Ozpin would likely be annoyed if she had lost it in less than twenty hours after him giving the device and cord to her. She grabs the object before putting her bag inside her locker. She remembers the girl with the sunglasses mentioning something about a shower being in the building, so she figures that it couldn't hurt. After all, it's been a while since she's had a proper one.

Once inside the shower room, Weiss does a doublecheck by looking out the door behind her to make sure no one else is inside the building. After all, she wouldn't want to get snuck up on... or for anyone to see her and start asking questions. Then again, they likely wouldn't care anyway because of what she is. They would just mock her even more than they will anyway, she just wants to keep that to a minimum. Staring into the mirror before her, Weiss places the middle and index fingers of her left hand over her scar; running them down the wound. Not even five seconds later, the faunus' hand curls into a tight fist that she slams down on the counter.

After taking a moment to calm herself, Weiss stops leaning over the marble surface and turns around, taking off her jacket before laying it on the counter. In doing this, the white-haired girl's arms are exposed to the open air... showing off more scars down her arms and across her wrists. The rest of the world aren't the only ones who hurt her... she does it to herself as well. She's not really sure why. It doesn't make her feel any better. It doesn't make the pain stop, and yet, she does it anyway. As if that wasn't enough, when Weiss removes her shirt, multiple slash marks are shown to have become apart of her back as well. However, instead of a knife or a piece of glass or anything else like the other wounds, the injuries on her back were created by a whip. Her father's whip, and he would use it every time she did something that displeased him... which was several times a day. However, only about six slashes had actually left a permanent mark on her pale skin. If she had a scar for every time he hit her with that terrible thing... she wouldn't even have a back anymore.

After taking her shower, Weiss puts her clothes back on and heads to the cafeteria. Sure, Glynda may have bought her a new outfit and given her some money to buy some more changes of clothes, but Weiss only kept the one. The blonde gave her the lien, Weiss is going to use it how she wants. Besides, what's the point of having multiple changes of the exact same clothes anyway? Everyone always has on the same freaking thing and whole idea of having five pairs of the same outfit is stupid in the white-haired girl's mind. Once arriving in the cafeteria, Weiss heads into the kitchen, grabs what she wants, and sits while using her charging scroll until more people start to show up two hours later.

When that happens, Weiss goes out for a walk until 10:38, when she heads back to the locker room to retrieve her weapon and restock the cylinders with fresh dust containers, seeing as how she has no idea how long this initiation thing is going to be. Actually, she doesn't even know what it is. Ozpin never told her. After arriving at her destination seven minutes later, Weiss speed walks to her locker with her head looking down at the floor in the hopes that would somehow make her invisible. As soon as she opens her locker door, a group of three students walk by as one of them mentions their older sister telling him that teams are formed immediately after initiation.

"Well that great." Weiss mutters in sarcastic annoyance.

Apparently instead of getting at least a few days to herself, Ozpin is going to go on ahead and assign her to a team. She thought that maybe this whole school thing wouldn't be too terrible, and yet now that she's here. Everything just keeps on getting worse.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet'cha." a blonde-haired boy, the one who threw up on the ship, announces as he leans against the locker next to hers with one arm.

… Yep, still getting worse. The scarred girl does her best to tune out the nonstop talking of the boy as she pretends that he doesn't exist and goes back to refueling her weapon as she sits on the nearby bench, hoping that he'll just go away. However, he just won't shut up. She swears she hears him say that she's pretty, but that's impossible. No one would ever think that of her, not that she really cares either. For Weiss, "being pretty" is at the bottom of the list for important things in life. That's reserved for staying hidden from her father, having as minimal contact with people as possible, collecting food and water however she can, having dust for her weapon, getting some sleep at least every couple days, and not dying... which honestly there are times where she doesn't care about that last one.

"So, been hearing rumors about teams and I was thinking me and you may make a good one."

The next thing that happens grabs her attention once again however, when Jaune nearly touches her face as he asks:

"Whadd'ya say?"

As soon as Jaune does that, Weiss grabs ahold of his wrist, stands up, turns away from the locker, and throws the blonde as hard as she can all in one rapid motion. The yelp and the crash that follows gathers the attention of multiple other initiates who look on in surprise and confusion. Weiss doesn't even finish putting the last two vials in Myrtenaster as she snatches up her weapon and bag before slamming her locker door and heading out of the building.

_One Minute Earlier..._

"Hey, look at that." Yang says to her sister. "Looks like Weiss has got an admirer."

Ruby turns to see Jaune's failing flirting attempts and hopes that nothing goes bad. Jaune seems like a nice guy, and Weiss... well she doesn't really know if Weiss is mean or not. Professor Ozpin said she's shy, and she's obviously not happy with Ruby for several understandable reasons, so it's kind of hard for her to really know if Weiss really is nice or not.

"You think he's got a shot?" questions Yang.

"I don't know." replies Ruby. "He should hopefully be fine as long as he doesn't..."

It's at this moment where Jaune is thrown over Weiss' shoulder and slammed into the floor.

"do that."

The two girls and several other onlookers just stand there and watch as Weiss rushes from the building.

"Yikes." Yang comments after the faunus is out of sight. "That has to put a dent in his pride."

_"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first year students Report to Beacon Cliff immediately." _Goodwitch announces over the intercom.

Ruby doesn't say anything and begins walking towards the first friend she made a Beacon, with her sister following close behind.

"Having some trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asks.

"I don't understand." Jaune says in a defeated tone. "My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"Well, she doesn't seem to like it when anyone gets too close to her. Freaks her out." Yang explains before heading towards the exit.

Ruby helps her friend off the ground and says: "C'mon, Jaune, let's go." as they follow the female blonde.

A few minutes later and every first year is standing lined up from left to right on a bunch of metal launch pads in front of Ozpin and Goodwitch, the two professors have their backs to the edge of the cliff. Apparently when the headmaster said that initiation will begin at 11:00, he really meant it because as soon as his watch strikes the time he speaks up.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Goodwitch tells them.

"What? Aww..." Ruby whines.

Damn it. Weiss already knew about this, but it doesn't make the announcement any less annoying.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you work well. That being said... the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next for years." Ozpin announces.

Are you freaking kidding?! Weiss knows that he said that she would have to be on a team... but the first person who she makes eye contact with?! What the heck is that garbage?! And right after he said that 'it's best if they get paired up with someone they work well with! She may not be the best at speaking, but even she knows that those two things do not go together!

"What?!" squeals Ruby.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." Ozpin continues.

Weiss stares at the headmaster in shock while Jaune laughs nervously before swallowing hard and Ruby mopes about the whole team situation.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Yes, can Weiss just not do this initiation thing and say she did?

Jaune raises his hand. "Yeah. Um, sir?"

"Good! Now, take you positions."

Weiss slowly removes her rapier from her side and just kind of stands there, not really knowing what to do. She looks to the people around her for a possible hint and sees Yang is in a fighting stance, Ruby in a running position, and Jaune is still trying to ask his question. Are they supposed to pose?

"Uh, sir? I've got, um, a question." Jaune continues.

However, before Weiss even knows what's going on, she gets flung off of the cliff, releasing a gasp as this happens. However, Weiss quickly overcomes her surprise and adjusts herself into a divebombing position. At forty meters until impact, the faunus flips herself around to replace her head's positioning with her feet and vice-versa. All the while, she creates several gravity glyphs within fifteen feet of one another vertically underneath herself to slow her descent. Upon reaching seven meters until impact, Weiss stops the glyphs and lowers her shoulder; causing her to front roll after coming into contact with the forest floor.

The white-haired girl looks around at her surroundings and takes a deep breath before releasing it. So, if it's a little past 11:00 A.M. the sun will still be leaning more towards the east. If Weiss looks upwards, the sun is in front of her, meaning that the area behind her is west and the cliff a distance to the faunus' right is to the south; so the north is to her left. However, since this is a test, it's doubtful that the intended destination will be straight in a single direction. Deciding on this, Weiss begins walking to the northeast. As much as she hates to admit it, living twelve years of your life on the streets and in the woods actually has some benefits.

However, instead of staying on her own as she would prefer, Weiss picks up the sound of someone running right at her after a minute. Acting on instinct, the faunus removes Myrtenaster from her hip and spins around to face the source of the disturbance coming into eye contact with one Ruby Rose.

...

Why? Just... just why?

Ruby gives Weiss a small smile, in which the faunus returns by twitching her eye twice and turning around before walking in the opposite direction of her without saying a word.

"Wait!" ruby calls out. "Where are you going?! We're supposed to be teammates." the red cloaked girl says sadly as she kicks the dirt with her right foot.

Is Weiss always going to hate her?

Weiss pushes her way through multiple bushes, thorns cutting away at her legs and tail all the while. Did she really have to be paired up with Ruby of all people? In Weiss' mind, the faunus would be happier if she got paired with a fish. Literally anyone would be better than the girl known as Ruby Rose.

"Uhg. Come on you stupid... urg. Come on... auh."

At the sound of someone's mumbling reaching her ears, Weiss looks up to see Jaune Arc stuck to a tree with a spear in his hoodie. The faunus puts her hand to the brink of her nose and sqeezes it in frustration while trying not to scream. So it's either the annoying girl who's fault it is that she's here in the first place and who literally exploded in the faunus' face, or the guy who threw up on several people in the Bullhead, doesn't seem to get a clue or ever shut up, almost touched her face, and seems to be relatively useless.

Jaune finally notices Weiss standing there and lets out a nervous laugh while waving to her as he mentally prays that the white-haired girl will help him down, but drops his arm and head in defeat as she turns and walks away without a word.

Ruby hears the sound of approaching footsteps and slowly looks up to spot Weiss walking angrily towards her before passing right by the younger girl. Ruby thought she was just going to walk off again but is surprised and delighted when the faunus grabs the former's hood and starts to drag her with.

"You came back!" the caped girl announces happily as she throws her arms into the air.

After a few yards, Weiss lets go of Ruby and the latter falls to the ground while the former keeps on walking.

"Oww. Hey, what's the hurry?"

Wiess continues to say nothing and keeps walking away until Ruby basically teleports in front of her with a smile and moving her hands up and down to resemble a dog. Is she making fun of her?

Seeing that her attempt to get Weiss to smile failed, Ruby says: "Weiss, I know that we haven't exactly gotten off of the best foot, but I want to try and make things up to you and that you'll forgive me for getting Professor Ozpin mad at you and for running into you and blowing you up."

Weiss opens her mouth to speak but Ruby just keeps on going, tensing up as Ruby puts her arm around her shoulders.

"But for right now, us teammates are going to completely own this initiation and take down a whole lot of Grimm. And after it's all over, you're going to be like 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really really cool... and I want to be your friend."

Ruby then finally notices what she's doing and jumps back when she sees how nervous her new teammate is. "Eep! Sorry! I'll stop doing that too!"

After that, she uses her semblance to speed off so the faunus won't growl at her again.

Shortly after the younger girl is gone, the sound of rustling leaves catches the faunus' attention. First the girl makes fun of her, then puts her arm around her, now she's hiding in the bushes. What in the world is wrong with this kid? It's at this point when the other bushes surrounding the faunus begin to shift, red eyes beginning to pierce through. … Wait a minute. That's not Ruby. Weiss quickly turns to the only opening in the foliage surrounding her, spotting a Beowolf. The beast lets out a roar before leaping at the faunus, however, the creature is met with a sword to the abdomen; killing it instantly. Another one makes a move on her from behind, but Weiss does a backflip, landing on it's back before thrusting Myrtenaster into it's neck.

Two more Beowolves charge, forcing Weiss to preform a dodge roll. After that, she stops one paw swipe with her rapier before pushing upwards, forcing the Grimm's arm into the air. She follows up by slashing the creature's hind legs, forcing it to fall on all fours before decapitating it. Weiss backbends underneath the second Beowolf as it leaps at her, making it fall face first into the dirt. The faunus runs at the creature to make the killing blow while it's busy trying to recover when Ruby appears in front of her, ending the Grimm's life.

The action surprises Weiss and she tries to slow herself down as to not end Ruby's life, making the white-haired girl trip an fall on her face... accidentally sending a row of fire at a tree, completely destroying it. The sudden action catches Ruby's attention, making her lose focus. This results in her thrown back into the faunus, who was just beginning to stand up.

"Watch it!" Ruby yells in annoyance.

"That your fault. Were just fine with no you." Weiss argues back as she picks herself up off the ground... again.

"Looks like you're surrounded to me." the youngest of the pair mutters under her breath.

Before any more words could be exchanged, Ruby takes note of the flames beginning to encircle them along with the Beowolves. Much to Weiss' discomfort, Ruby grabs the faunus' arm without warning and dashes them away from the scene with her semblance. However, at some point during their escape, a burning tree collapses five feet in front of the new partners. This development forces Ruby to make an abrupt stop, making her slip and fall as she is still holding on to Weiss' wrist. Both of the girl's heads smack into one another painfully and they both lay on the ground for a moment before Weiss can feel the fire approaching her face, causing her to get up and bolt with Ruby following closely behind. Once they are a safe distance away from the flames, the two stop to regain their breath. However, Ruby recovers much faster thanks to her semblance being extremely quick running while Weiss has to lean against a tree with one arm while the other clutches her stomach.

"What was that?!" Ruby questions. "First you don't tighten the lid on your container and now the forest is on fire! Don't you even know how to use your own dust?!"

Weiss just gives the black and red-haired girl a glare and removes herself from the tree she's using for support before placing one arm to her head and walking over to sit on a large rock. It's then when Ruby notices a tear in Weiss' jeans just above the girl's ankle, with a small amount of blood shining through. At the sight, Ruby's anger is replaced with concern. Weiss never got hit by a Beowolf, did she get it from the thorns she walked through? How? Shouldn't her aura have protected her from something as miniscule as that? At least healed it? What about her headache? Ruby's was short-lived due to the fact the her aura took the blow for her, but shouldn't Weiss be fine too?

"You okay?" asks Ruby.

"Why you care?" Weiss retorts. "First ask if Ice Wolf know how to use own dust, now ask if okay? Make no sense."

"… Ice Wolf?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Ruby questions whilst tilting her head to the side.

"Yes."

"No offence, but that sounds kinda dumb."

"Ice Wolf no ask opinion, girl."

"My name is Ruby."

"Ice Wolf no care."

Ruby opens her mouth to speak again, but is interrupted by her new teammate.

"As for dust, you the one who made vial loose when run into Ice Wolf and forest burn down due to you appear at random and make Ice Wolf fall while try not to run you through. Ice Wolf were mid strike when you chose to jump in."

"Hey! You're the one who got yourself surrounded! I was just trying to help!"

Help? Really? No one wants to help her. No, all this girl has done is hurt, annoy, and inconvenience her. Ruby wants to be friends, but even though Weiss' father abused her, there was one good thing he told her about that she should have listened to:

_"Friendship is a lie."_

She didn't listen and so she learned that lesson the hard way, by someone who claimed they were "friends" attempt to sell her as a slave. Then she was an idiot again when she made two more "friends" and they tried to kill her. Weiss isn't making that mistake again.

"Just 'cause we on team now, do not make us friend." Weiss announces to Ruby with a slight amount of venom while looking at the younger girl straight in the eyes.

Immediately following her statement, Weiss stands up from the rock and begins walking away as Ruby says nothing and just watches her leave. Why does Weiss have to be so frustrating?! All Ruby did was try to help her out! It's not her fault that the jerk lit the forest on fire! Ruby has done nothing but try to be nice to her! Why did she have to get this "lone wolf" as a teammate?! In her frustration, Ruby releases a small scream and cuts a tree down with one swipe of Crescent Rose before placing her weapon back and following Weiss. The two girls walk in silence, stopping every now and then for Weiss to check to see if they are still heading the right way. However, it's difficult to just keep going in one direction with all the fallen trees and groups of bushes around; so the trip is taking longer than either girl would have liked it to.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Ruby questions after about twenty minutes.

However, Weiss chooses not to answer and just keeps on walking.

"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?"

"Not lost." Weiss replies.

"Okay then, where are we going?"

"Forest temple."

"So you don't know where we're going?"

"Temple is north."

"Well are we going north?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Go left of sun 'cause of time of day."

"But the sun is that way." Ruby announces while pointing a little to the right.

"Going northeast. Doubt it directly north."

Ruby stops moving and turns in the opposite direction the two are walking, spotting something in the distance. She takes Crescent Rose from her back and looks into it's scope, identifying the object.

"Then what's this?"

Weiss turns around and heads towards her partner at the question. Once she arrives, Ruby holds the scope of her gun to Weiss' face. Once she looks through it, Weiss can clearly see their intended destination… which was directly north before they passed it. Weiss looks away from the scope and to a smirking Ruby, who she walks past in annoyance.

"How are we going to get over there?" Ruby questions.

"Walk." her partner replies.

"But that at least another three miles!"

"Well you have idea better?"

Almost immediately Wiess regrets asking that, now she's riding on the side of a large Nevermore that just so happened to be flying towards the temple. Maybe it has a nest there? She hopes not because dealing with this thing on it's own will be a pain if it notices their presence. Ruby eventually looks back to make sure that her teammate hasn't fallen off their ride and sees Weiss burying her face into the Nevermore's feathers and clinging on for dear life.

"We'll be fine, stop worrying so much!" the red reaper exclaims, needing to raise her voice to be heard over the wind.

"This extreme stupid!" Weiss shouts back.

"Why don't we jump?!"

"What?!"

"There are some people on the ground and it doesn't look like it's going to land because of it! We're going to have to jump!"

Is she being serious? She knows they will likely die right? She probably just wants Weiss to kill herself so she can say that she "slipped" and keep up her "nice girl" act. However, Weiss' theory is destroyed when she looks back to her teammate, only to find her missing. The wolf faunus looks downward and spots the girl falling not too far back. She really jumped? So she wasn't trying to trick her? Actually, now that Weiss thinks about it… jumping might not be so bad. She has control of her semblance now, it won't show up unless she wants it to. If she does die, she won't have to worry anymore. No more having fears of her father finding her. No more people hurting her. No more nightmares. She'll be free.

Deciding that is what she wants to go for, Weiss closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets go of the massive bird. With her back facing the ground below, Weiss doesn't think about anything. She isn't scared. Her breathing is calm and her heartrate normal. Her semblance has stopped her in the past, it won't now. No one is there to stop or catch her. The only things there are the Nevermore above and the relaxing feeling of the wind in her hair… and then she feels an arm under her legs and one on her back.

"Just dropping in?" Jaune's voice asks smoothly.

Oh, God no. Why does nothing ever work out for her? However, before she can push him away from her, Jaune whines: "Oh, God" before gripping onto Weiss for dear life as if she could fly or something. Obviously, this makes Weiss freak out even more, but she can't get out of the idiot's grip and so she just squeezes her eyes shut as tight as she can and prays that the fall will kill her. Again, her wishes don't come true as she survives. How? She doesn't know. Yeah, she landed on Jaune's back after finally freeing herself from his grasp somehow, but logically speaking, she still should have died from the impact due to her falling from that height. Speaking of, as soon as Weiss' mind registered that she wasn't dead, the white-haired girl rolls off of the blonde and points her rapier at the back of his neck.

"Woah woah woah woah woah woah." Yang repeats. "I know you're iffy about people touching you, but he just saved your life. Maybe don't cut his head off, eh?"

Weiss looks around at the people around her who are staring at her in concern as she is still breathing heavily before looking back to Jaune. She gives him another glare before walking off.

It's at this moment in time when a red-haired girl is finally hit by a Deathstalker that was giving chase to her and she falls to the ground at Yang's feet.

"Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" the blonde announces, obviously meaning it as a joke.

However, her sister doesn't seem to get it and states: "Not if I can help it" before charging at the Deathstalker head on. Seriously, what is wrong with this kid?

"Ruby, wait!" Yang calls out in protest.

The caped girl ignores her sister's pleas and jumps at the giant scorpion, only to be swatted away like a fly from a horses tail.

"I'm okay!" Ruby responds as she picks herself up off the ground… right before the Nevermore from earlier decides to target her and launch a bunch of feathers in the girl's direction like spears.

"Ruby!" Yang shouts as she runs to the scythe-wielder's aid.

The youngest girl of the bunch attempts to flee the scene, however, one of the Grimm's feathers penetrate her cape; pinning her to the ground and Yang is forced to fall to the ground as to not get impaled… all the while the Deathstalker makes it's way over to finish off the annoying red kid named Ruby. Weiss smacks her hand against her face at this absurd sequence of events while Yang calls for her sister to "get out of there."

"I'm trying." Ruby whimpers begore finally hearing the chatter of the Deathstalker.

She releases a scared gasp and lowers her head as she squeezes her eyes shut in anticipation for the blow to come. Weiss isn't quite exactly sure what causes her to save the annoyance by speeding over with her semblance and freezing the creature's tail mid strike. Maybe if she were to guess, it would be because she could see herself in Ruby at that moment. Helpless and cowering in fear as she waits for a force to collide with her skin, never knowing if her life will come to an end or not. Yeah Weiss doesn't really care if she dies… but she wants it to happen her way. She's doesn't want to be in anymore pain. She wants it to be over and done as fast as possible. However, this Ruby girl doesn't want to die. She enjoys life. Why not let her have what Weiss didn't get to?

Hearing the formation of the ice, Ruby looks up to see what her teammate had done. Aww man. Part of what she did was just to impress Weiss so she would hate her less, but now she probably thinks she's even more annoying.

"Thank…" Ruby begins to say sadly before getting interrupted.

"Like living?" questions Weiss.

"Huh?"

"Do you enjoy life?"

"Y-yeah?" Ruby half-asks-half-answers, not knowing where her teammate is going with this.

"You want to be hero, you youngest person here. Have possible to do want you want. Enjoy what you have. No waste by being stupid."

Before Ruby can say anything in reply, Weiss walks away. However, she fails to hear the faunus mutter something that would confuse her and make her stomach turn if she heard it: "Not something everyone get to enjoy." Instead, she's happy with what she has heard and whispers: "Normal knees." to herself. Weiss thinks she can be a hero.

After Ruby and Yang embrace in a hug and walk back to the others, Janue announces: "Guys, that thing is circling back!" referring to the Nevermore.

"Then let get thing and leave." Weiss says.

"Run and live, that's a plan that I can get behind."

"She's right," Ruby announces. "there's no sense in fighting these things. Let's just grab the relics and head back to the top of the cliff.

Ruby and Jaune then collect a white knight chess piece and a white rook respectively and a black-haired boy says: "Time we left!"

"Right. Let's go." announces Ruby, and everyone begins to depart from the scene with Ruby leading the way. Yang stops to observe her sister with pride, catching her partner's attention.

"Yang? What is it?"

"Oh. Nothing." the blonde replies before the two follow the rest of the group.

The group runs through the remains of the temple, towards the starting cliff... with the Deathstalker and Nevermore chasing them. Once the cliff is in view, everyone splits up into groups of two and hides behind some of the pillars, that were left standing from whatever happened to the temple, because the Nevermore flew ahead of them. Weiss ended up getting separated with Yang's partner... also known as the ravenette who approached herself and Ruby after they exploded in the courtyard. As if things weren't annoying enough, the Nevermore lands on a large chunk of rubble right in front of the cliff.

"Well, that's great." deadpans Yang.

… and then the Deathstalker bursts through the trees behind them. Can this get any more absurd?

"Oh man! Run!" Jaune screeches.

Everyone takes off again and the Nevermore flies back into the air.

"Nora, distract it!" the black-haired boy exclaims and the pink wearing girl beside him ducks and dives over the Grimm's attack feathers that it sends after her.

She pulls a grenade launcher off her back and opens fire, nailing it in the face and forcing it to retreat from any more explosive blasts that come it's way. Nora is then about to be crashed by the Deathstalker's pincers but is saved by her and Yang's partners blocking the attack. After that, Weiss creates a glyph underneath the heavy weapons girl and pulls her away from the Grimm. As the two who protected Nora begin their retreat, Weiss turns around to face the scorpion after getting onto a bridge. The unknown redhead exclaims: "Go! Go!" and turns around with her rifle pointed at the Deathstalker as well as she drops to one knee. She opens fire and Weiss launches lighting at it to provide cover. Once the two make it onto the bridge, the two girls run after them as the Deathstalker keeps up it's charge. As they run, the Nevermore swoops around the side of the pathway and smashes right through the midpoint of it; trapping the three unknown individuals with the scorpion while everyone else lands on the other side.

Weiss waves her rapier towards the Nevermore, sending a bolt of lightning that strikes it's back. To follow up, the scarred faunus draws a circle nearly as tall as herself in front of her, creating a ring of electricity before thrusting her rapier forward as to fire the attack. As it heads for the Nevermore, the circle expands, creating a larger attack area that hits it's target as it tries to escape a shotgun blast from one of Yang's gauntlets. As Ruby, Weiss, and Yang are keeping up their assault on the bird, the blonde's partner somehow got on top of the thing. She slashes the Nevermore's face and body before jumping off and landing on a pillar above them before jumping down next to Yang.

"It's tougher than it looks!" she announces.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang says and she cocks her gauntlets.

Each of the three girls with guns aim their weapons at the giant bird and open fire as Weiss rotates her weapon's chamber, switching it to ice before sending ice shards in the Nevermore's direction. The attacks either do little to no damage or completely miss before the Nevermore reaches them and crashes into the tower they are standing on. Each of them have to either parkour or use their semblances to make it back up to safety as the tower crumbles into the canyon below. Weiss lands down next to Ruby and Yang charges at the bird from the other side.

"It no die." Weiss states and Ruby looks around as Blake makes it onto a platform and Yang shoots wildly at the bird.

"I have a plan! Cover me!" the red reaper says before shooting herself off, giving Weiss no room for arguments.

Weiss turns to look at the Nevermore again, wondering what in the world the younger girl could be thinking.

"We're going to make a slingshot!"

… She really should have expected something dumb like that.

"Yang, lure the Nevermore to the wall of the cliff! After that, Weiss will freeze it in place! Blake, I need you and Yang to stretch your weapon's ribbon across those pillars! I'll jump in the center and Weiss will launch me at it! You have gravity dust, right?!"

"Yes, but...!" Weiss replies, but is cut off by her new partner.

"Good! Everyone got that?!"

"Sounds like a plan, Rubes!" exclaims Yang.

"This stupid!" voices Weiss.

"Only plan we have!" Blake announces, forcing Weiss to sigh.

This day just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Giving up, Weiss changes her active dust to fire and sends several lines of flames at the Grimm, forcing it to fly towards and into Yang's shotgun blasts. Yang then pulls back with one arm before releasing a blast to the bird's face, angering it an making it fly at her. The Grimm swoops around and opens his beak to swallow the brawler and she jumps right inside. Using one arm to hold the beak open, Yang fires multiple blast into it's throat with the other as she yells: "I! Hope! You're! Hung-ry!" before backflipping out and away.

The bird blanks out for a second and crashes into the cliff like Ruby wanted. Weiss and Yang then swap positions and the wolf girl freezes the Grimm's tail by launchng herself over to the cliff and stabbing through it's tail feathers and creating spikes, this ensures that it can't fly away. Weiss then retreats and Blake throws her ribbon to Yang and the two stretch it out across two opposite pillars before Ruby jumps into the middle of it and Weiss pulls her back with a glyph.

"This no going to work." she tells the red reaper.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asks, ignoring her partner's negativity.

Weiss says nothing, which in turn concerns Ruby.

"... Can...?"

"Probably." Weiss answers.

However, before Ruby can say anything in reply, Weiss sends her off. Everyone watches as Ruby fires several rounds behind her, creating momentum to hit her mark. Ruby lands her weapon across the Grimm's neck and begins to run up the side of the mountain with the help from her weapons recoil, her speed, and Weiss' glyphs until she makes it to the top and decapitates the Nevermore. The other nine teens watch as the Grimm's body drops into the canyon and Ruby walks back over towards the edge and looks down at them.

"Well, that was a thing." Yang says after she walks up next to Weiss.

The blonde looks over to see Weiss' reaction, hoping for either a small smile or a short conversation, but the faunus says nothing and begins to walk away with a plain look on her face.

"Okay then." Yang says with some disappointment evident in her voice. If Weiss is going to be her sister's partner, she would like at least some kind of idea as to what kind of person she is... and honestly, she's a little worried for the faunus. It's not often that people are scared of psysical contact without reason, especially someone's hand. Then there's the scar... maybe she's overthinking it, but something doesn't sit right with her.

As the teens walk back to Professors' Ozpin and Goodwitch, Weiss and Ruby are walking in the front of the group as the latter tries to have a conversation with the former.

"Hey, Blake?" Yang questions.

"Yeah?" the bow wearing girl replies.

"Does something about Weiss seem off to you?"

"What do you mean?"

To Blake, yes, something seems wrong... but for different reasons than her partner thinks. After all, she hasn't had any real interaction with Weiss aside from the courtyard incident. What she feels though, is something that she can't really explain. It's like... Weiss isn't natural. Why though? She's a faunus just like Blake, so what's the problem? Blake doesn't feel this way about other faunus. But Weiss... just gives her a strange feeling.

Yang, explains her concerns about Weiss, and Blake replies: "She is a faunus, Yang. There's likely been a lot of people who haven't exactly treated her with kindness."

"I guess, but it kind of sucks, ya know? Knowing that people treat her poorly just for being a faunus." Yang states.

"Yeah," her partner says somewhat solemnly as she looks towards the wolf girl. "it does."

Shortly after, Ruby stops walking and lowers her head to the ground.

"You okay, sis?" Yang questions.

"Not really." Ruby admits.

"She didn't insult you, did she?"

"No, she just wouldn't talk to me... Is she always going to hate me?"

"Nobody can hate you, Ruby. They can get pretty mad, but with a personality like yours, they can't hate you."

"Thanks, sis." Ruby says with a weak smile.

After that, Yang grabs her sister around her neck and rubs her fist in her sister's hair and they keep on heading back to the top of the cliff. Upon reaching their destination, Ozpin gives out congratulations and everyone departs to go get cleaned up. As she waits in the locker room for everyone to finish their showers and leave, Blake notices that Weiss isn't in the crowd. After turning off the water from her shower, Blake dries her hair while still standing in the shower so she can put her bow back on just in case anyone walks in. After finally stepping out, she spots Weiss beginning to take off her jacket. However, the white-haired girl sees Blake's reflection in the mirror and quickly turns around. She only had one sleeve still on, so Weiss uses the rest of her jacket to cover her other arm.

"... Ice Wolf no realize you in here. No hear water." Weiss explains after a moment.

Blake takes notice that she's protecting her arm from sight, but decides not to pry. "I just dried off my hair while I was in there."

Ruby had mention that Weiss calls herself that, but it's still a little weird to hear. They way she talks kind of throws Blake off a little bit as well. Blake offers a small smile to the girl, but Weiss neither says nor does nothing in response and wouldn't do anything else until Blake finally leaves. That night everyone is gathered back in the auditorium with Ozpin is on the stage, announcing the names of students to step forwards.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL. Lead by... Cardin Winchester!"

The sound of applause causes Weiss to jump, not going unnoticed by Ruby, Blake, and Yang. Weiss is not used to people "clapine" or whatever it's called. Loud noises and people make her uncomfortable, and now she's in a large collection of people making a ton of noise... needless to say that she's extremely on edge. Not to mention that apparently teams are composed of four people, even now things are still getting worse. The new Team CRDL leaves the stage before Ozpin speaks again.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR."

Nora giggles in delight and hugs Ren and Jaune looks at them.

"Lead by... Jaune Ark!" Ozpin announces, regaining his attention.

"Huh?! L-Lead by?" he questions.

"Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha then playfully punches his shoulder as she smiles and Jaune falls over, gaining some laughs from the crowd.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss, Yang Xiao Long."

When they walk on stage, Weiss holds her right hand on her left arm and looks at the floor with her eyes shut.

"You four retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Lead by... Ruby Rose!"

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang announces as she throws her arms around Ruby.

"Looks, like thing are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin states.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Sweet biscuits, this year has been nuts, eh? This whole coronavirus thing, people loosing their minds, fires, giant wasps, I mean c'mon, what's next? The Death Star? In all seriousness, I hope that everyone is staying safe and happy. I apologize for not uploading to any stories in a while, I've just had a lot on my plate. Pair that with working nearly everyday and that makes barley any time for me to do anything I used to do for fun. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter and I'll have another out as soon as I can.**

**Okay, begin!**

* * *

In the magnificent kingdom of Atlas, sits a village named Kyioshi on the farthest point west of the territory, where a somewhat busy outdoor market conceals a ten-year-old Weiss from the view of the world. The young girl, with a poorly healing cut on her cheek and bruises on her legs, hides around the corner of an alleyway and looks out into the crowd. Not far from her location sits a fruit vender with his back turned. As he asks a passer-by if there is anything she would like, Weiss takes a stone and knocks a hanging basket of oranges off it's stand. As he didn't see the incident, the vender begins to yell at another passer-by who he believes had caused the mess. While the two argue, the little wolf girl slips behind the stand and begins to take several apples, storing them in her shirt. She walks away from the unsuspecting vender and turns back into the alleyway. At lease she would have if some younger kid with silver eyes didn't grab her by the wrist and yell towards the vender that Weiss was taking his profits. In return for the pest of a being's deed, Weiss bites her on the arm, clamping hard enough as to draw blood, making the kid let go and begin to cry. A girl with blonde hair then started to run at the faunus and looked as though she was going to punch her, at least until the wolf girl threw one of the apples into what seems to be the older sister's eye. Weiss turns back to the salesman and thank goodness he didn't hear the annoying brat yell out to him. Speaking of, upon hearing the kid's cries become muffled, Weiss sees her being hugged by a blonde man as he begins to put a cloth on her injury and the blond having her eye examined by a woman in a white cloak. The woman notices her looking their way and tells the blonde girl to go to her father and turns to watch the kid grumble and leave.

Weiss however, didn't stick around for the woman to look back as she had taken off down the alley. The faunus doesn't look back as she continues to run, tears escaping her eyes as she's afraid of what will happen if the woman catches her. She's been caught before, and most of the time it ended with her going hungry and in physical pain. One man even threw her face down in the mud. With living on the streets for months now, there were going to be a good portion of fails. Weiss ducks behind a dumpster and breaths heavily. After a few seconds, she peers around her cover to look for the woman. Not spotting her, Weiss releases a sigh of relief and goes back to her original position... only to see the woman squatting next to her. The wolf faunus lets out a gasp and tries to stand, but releases the grip on her shirt, allowing the apples to tumble out and make her trip over them in her hurry, where she covers her head to wait for the woman to hit her

Instead, no hit comes and she hears the woman say: "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Weiss slowly uncovers her face and looks up at the woman with teary eyes. "You... not?"

"No." the woman replies with a smile before picking up one of the apples and cleaning it with her cloak. "Although, I would like to know why you were taking from that man." she adds while handing the wiped off fruit to the girl.

"I-I..."

"You have any family?"

Weiss' eyes grew wide at the mention of the "f-word" and quickly shook her head. This reaction makes the woman raise a brow, knowing that something was up. Choosing to not pry, the woman asks another question.

"How long have you been out here?"

"D-don' know. B-been few month."

"What's your name? I'm Summer."

"I... uh... umm..."

Weiss' gets spooked upon hearing a rock move, looking out to see that the rest of Summer's family had been standing close by, and the noise came from the blonde girl, who had taken a few steps towards her mother and the faunus. When she sees her, Weiss once again hides behind the dumpster. Summer looks at the scared child for a second or two before standing up.

"Hey," she says sweetly. "I'm going to go talk for a moment. Don't worry, no one's going to hurt you, but can you just sit tight until I come back?" After hearing no reply, Summer once again smiles at her. "It's okay. You can trust me."

Unknowing of what else to do, Weiss slowly nods. She listens to Summer walk away saying "Come here, Yang." shorty after.

"Well, what do we do?" Taiyang questions.

"We bring her back with us. We can't just leave her out here." answers Summer.

"I know that, but what if she really does have family out here?"

"Well, I was thinking, I take her and the girls back home and you look for any other wolf faunus and tell them that we found a child if they're missing one."

"I don't know, Summer..."

"Come on, Tai, she's hurt, stealing food, and smells worse than you after you do your morning workout."

"Alright, fine. You take the girls back, I'll keep an eye out for any potential family members."

With that response, Summer kisses Taiyang on the cheek and tells him "thank you" before turning back towards the girl and walking around the dumpster.

"Okay, sweetie, let's..." she begins to say, but stops when she notices that the girl is gone.

Summer begins to look around for the faunus, but never finds her.

* * *

_Present day..._

Ruby Rose awakens early in the morning with her newly appointed team's wake up call in mind. She bought a whistle just for the occasion. However, upon siting up, Ruby finds Weiss to be awake and sitting in the corner by the bathroom door as she looks at her scroll. However, what Ruby doesn't know, is that Weiss chose that spot as to give her a safe area if... when she needs it. Ruby also notices that her partner is still in her clothes from yesterday.

"Weiss?" whispers the black and red-haired girl.

Weiss says nothing and looks up at her new "leader."

"What are you doing up already?" continues Ruby.

"It matter?" the faunus responds as she looks back to her device.

"O-okay. Uhhh… want to help me prank Blake and Yang?"

Weiss looks back up to the younger girl with a confused face.

"So... is that a yes?"

"What a prenk?"

"You don't know what a prank is?"

Weiss just continues to look at the scythe-wielder.

"A prank is something that you do to other people. Ya'know, for fun." Ruby explains.

A memory from several years ago flashes in the wolf faunus' mind.

_"Let's have some fun." __a teenage boy says as he cracks his knuckles, two more older boys standing behind him, one of whom is holding a bat. This takes place as an nine-year-old Weiss is looking up at the three in fear from the ground that she was shoved onto._

"No." Weiss responds as soon as the memory ends.

"You sure?"

The white-haired girl says nothing else and just looks back to her scroll.

Ruby releases a small, sad sigh and hops out of her bed to go get ready. When she gets out of the restroom in her new school uniform, she makes a pouting face as she sees that Blake and Yang now awake as well.

"Ah, noooo!" whines Ruby. "I was going to prank you guys!"

"Welp, ya should have done it earlier." Yang responds before sticking her tongue out at her little sister, who retaliates in the same way.

The only attention that Weiss has been paying to the other three girls is the sound of their footsteps to make sure that they aren't approaching her. She could not care less about anything else they do. The only interactions that she's had with any of them this morning was with the annoying black and red-haired girl when they had their earlier conversation and when Weiss moved from her seat to go sit by the front door when Ruby got up to head inside the bathroom. However, not paying attention to the girls turns out to be a mistake because Ruby decides to use the whistle to get Weiss' attention when she notices her opportunity to do so as the faunus is ignoring them.

TWEEEEEEEEEEE!

The sudden an unexpected high-pitched sound causes Weiss to literally jump to her feet and immediately throw her scroll at the source of the sound, knocking the whistle from Ruby's mouth and onto the floor.

"Nice throw." Yang comments as she gives the faunus a thumbs up. However, after taking notice of how fast the girl is breathing, the brawler teases: "What's wrong? Puppy doesn't like the whistle?"

Obviously the blonde didn't mean any harm by it and was just trying to make a joke, but the question earns a disapproving look from Blake and a death-stare from Weiss as her heart continues to beat rapidly in her chest.

"Awww. Her tail went stiff." Yang announces in reference to Weiss, whose tail is now sticking straight up.

"Yang," starts Blake "that means she's angry."

"I know. We have a corgi back at home so I can tell the differences in tail posture. I was just trying to tease her a little bit." the brawler says with a shrug.

First she insults Weiss and now she compares her to a corgi? So she's going to be one of those people huh? In response to Yang's statement, Weiss lets a growl escape her throat.

"Come on guys, don't fight." Ruby begs. "It's our first day, let's enjoy it!"

"Aww yeah! Let's get this show on the road!" Yang voices in excitement, completely forgetting about Weiss being upset... which only ticks the girl off more.

In her mind, it's Yang's way of saying: "Meh, you're not even worth my time."

"But first, let's decorate!"" the leader yells.

"What?" asks Weiss in confusion.

"We still have to unpack." Blake states as she lifts up her suitcase, which then flops open and everything inside falls onto the floor. "... And clean."

Weiss just looks at the other girls until Ruby jumps in her face from seemingly nowhere and blows the whistle again, making the former's eyes go wide and jump back. This in turn makes her trip on a suitcase that's laying in the floor and she falls, hitting the back of her head on the floor.

"Ack!" screeches Ruby. "Are you okay?!"

Weiss just continues to lay on the ground and tries not to cry from pain, anger, and embarrassment. Her getting knocked over better not be a regular thing.

"Maybe uhhh… we should go ahead and get started so that doesn't happen again." Yang suggests, getting nods from both her partner and her sister.

"Alright! Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission. Banzai!" the red reaper exclaims as she puts a fist into the air.

"Banzai!" Blake and Yang yell as they throw their fists into the air as well and each stand next to Ruby and the three girls then do some sort of pose.

Blake feels a little strange for acting a differently than she usually does, but she has a second chance at living her life and she can at least try to have fun. On top of that... she's hopeful to actually have some friends. The cat faunus glances over to a laughing Ruby and Yang and let's a small smile show. Ruby seems like a brave and kind girl, Blake would be happy to call her a friend. Yang is fun-loving and has a deep care for her sister, and she didn't really seem to mean any harm in teasing Weiss; although Blake hopes that she doesn't keep it up. Speaking of Weiss, the cat-girl's not really too sure what to think about her. Yes, she's happy to have another faunus on her team, but there's something about Weiss that just makes her feel uncomfortable. She can't really explain it, but she doesn't like that she feels that way. However, unlike every other student she's seen, Weiss seems to have no enthusiasm for being at Beacon. Then again, if Ozpin is her grandfather, she's likely used to being here... but why does she seem so upset all the time?

Blake is thrown out of her thoughts as Weiss picks herself up off the floor before grabbing the suitcase she tripped over and hurls it at Yang, who catches it with no issue to the faunus' disappointment as she was aiming for the blonde's face for revenge from leaving the yellow bag there in the first place. A minute or two passes as Weiss watches her new teammates in confusion as to why they are "decorating" as they called it. From the looks of it, decorating is completely useless as there doesn't seem to be any sign of benefits from doing so. They don't even take notice of her lack of participation as they each set up their own items. Once Ruby, Blake, and Yang are done, every member of Team RWBY looks on at the newly arranged dorm and notice a crucial problem... the beds are just stacked atop each other in the center of the room.

"Fail." Weiss states.

"It is a bit cramped." Blake agrees.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff." Yang suggests.

"Or we could ditch the beds... *gasp* and replace them with bunkbeds!" Ruby exclaims as she throws her arms into the air.

"What bunk bed?'" questions Weiss.

"It's basically one bed placed over another, but it has supports keeping the top one up so one person can use each bed." explains Yang.

"Sound stupid and risky."

"And super awesome!" Yang shouts.

"It does seem efficient." Blake states.

Wiess doesn't say anything else as she realizes that this is a loosing battle. Why should she even care anyway? It's not like she's actually going to sleep if anyone is in the same room as her. She can just rest in a tree stationed in a secluded area during their "breaks," whatever those are.

The white-haired girl is removed from her thoughts when Yang asks: "Hey, Weiss, you going to help us put these together or what?"

Apparently, the majority of Team RWBY had already begun on the project immediately after they finished their conversation about the creations as Weiss just continued to stand there. However, in response to the question directed at her, the wolf girl shakes her head and walks out of the room.

"Where are you going?" questions Blake as her teammate was just exiting the doorway.

"Class." is the dry reply from the wolf-girl. She's never been to a "class," but Ozpin said that she was required to go as part of their agreement so whatever.

"Class?" Ruby repeats in confusion before the meaning of her partner's bland statement registers in her brain. Ruby hurriedly pulls out her scroll and lets out a yelp. "Oh crud, class starts in five minutes!"

"Wait!" calls out Yang. "What about Weiss?! She's not wearing the uniform!"

"She can probably get away with it! Let's GOOO!"

Ruby, Blake, and Yang then get up and run out the door, leaving Weiss behind them with a startled look on her face at the unsuspected action. Immediately after, she hears the door to her left open, revealing Team JNPR.

"Class?" Jaune asks in fear. He can't be late his first day! However, before he can even begin to run, the rest of his team fall on top of him. Jaune is the first to get back up and runs off as the others follow closely behind him.

However, Pyrrha stops for a moment. The redhead looks back towards Weiss, concerned about the faunus who has her hand over her heart and her head laying against the door frame.

"Pyrrha, come on!" Nora exclaims from up ahead. "If you're late, we're all late!"

Pyrrha is conflicted about what to do, but selects to run after her team when she sees that Weiss has calmed down somewhat.

"You've allowed four questionable students into the academy." Glynda announces to Ozpin. "I just think you're pushing your luck is all."

"Oh?" the headmaster questions before sipping from his signature mug. "And who might those be?"

"Ruby Rose, age fifteen, Jaune Arc, questionable transcripts, Blake Belladonna, very recent history of being in the White Fang, and Weiss, a criminal who has some clear psychological issues."

"Miss Rose has shown promising skill and in all honesty, with the way things are going these days, we need her. As for the other girls, I am a firm believer in second chances. Blake wants to turn her life around and Weiss... she just needs someone to care about her for once. I have hope that we can show her that there is more to life than what she has experienced."

"And Mister Arc?"

"Him, I just have a good feeling about." Ozpin replies casually, causing his assistant's eye to twitch. "Try to have a little more faith, Glynda."

The two then stop walking when they see teams RWBY (minus Weiss) and JNPR sprinting to their first class of the day. The blonde professor looks down at her watch to check the time while her companion takes another sip of his mug. Glynda looks to her left in order to see Weiss walking behind the rest of her team and out of uniform as well as still having her weapon on her side. Glynda Goodwitch then directs her eyes back to her boss as they peek over her glasses, giving him a disapproving look. Ozpin's only response is to simply close his eyes and shrug before walking off again, leaving his assistant behind to facepalm.

Ruby, Yang, Blake and Team JNPR run though the halls of Beacon towards their first ever class of their time at the academy, they so do not want to be late. Upon reaching the door of the class, Ruby fails to stop fast enough and just slides past the door while looking inside... with everyone else not making the same mistake. After finally stopping, Ruby runs inside the classroom and happily yells: "We made it!

"Indeed." a voice says to their left, revealing their professor. "And with seconds to spare. Well done. Now if you take your seats, I will begin the lesson."

As the seven teens walk to their seats, the professor speaks again.

"Excuse me, but aren't you missing a member, Team RWBY?"

Ruby, Blake, and Yang all turn to one another and realize that he's right. Weiss isn't here yet.

"She was out the door before we were, wasn't she?" whispers Yang.

"I think so." Ruby replies. "What happened then?"

"Next time you might want to make sure she's with you when you depart for classes." their professor announces.

After he says that, the subject of the conversation walks into the room with no concern evident on her face. However, she freezes when she sees how many people are inside.

"Nice of you to join us." the professor says without sarcasm. "If you would go sit by your team, I will once again attempt to start the lesson."

Weiss cautiously looks around the room at all the people and hesitantly walks to her team, not looking forward to having to be so close to them. Why did Ozpin have to make that a rule? It's bad enough that she has to share a room with them. The wolf faunus awkwardly sits at the end of the row, in the seat closest to the door, a nervous look on her face all the while. Port tells a story of his youth and many of the students stop paying attention in return, but Weiss continues to listen just because she wants to see exactly what this school thing is like... and she has nothing better to do right now.

After approximately forty minutes of Port talking, Ruby holds up a very poorly drawn version of the professor with streaks representing stink rising from his body, causing her and her sister to snicker a little too loudly. They are immediately snapped out of it as Port forcefully clears his throat, letting them know he's displeased. He then continues to wrap up the story as he explains how he captured the beast and returned proudly home before bowing to the class. As he does this, Weiss picks up sounds from Ruby's direction. Turning to the girl, the faunus sees her doing something ridiculous as Port lists off the ways of what a huntsman should be. Weiss doesn't really understand what every word he said meant... but she's certain that Ruby is none of them. Why? Of all people, why did she have to be stuck on a team with that girl? Literally everything she does gets on the faunus' nerves. After being told that they can leave when the class finished watching Ren kill off a Boarbatusk when Nora had stuck his hand in the air as a volunteer, Weiss is the first out of the classroom and keeps a fast pace while walking down the hall to the next class.

The next two introductory classes were roughly the same length in time and were taught by Mulberry and Peach respectively. According to Ozpin, there were three classes after this thing called a "lunch break," which is apparently a time to eat. Since students have to be in their dorms by 8:00, Weiss decides that she'll mark this time to sleep in the future. Two meals a day is already more that what she's used to anyway, but since she's already in the cafeteria, she might as well go ahead and grab something. After RWBY collect their meals, they head over to sit at a table with JNPR.

"Hey, guys!" Jaune happily welcomes as Ruby, Blake, and Yang sit down. "What's u..."

However, he stops mid sentence when Weiss walks past her teammates and sits as far away from them at the table as possible while the others just watch her. After Weiss sits, Ruby lets out a sad sigh and her sister pats her on the back.

"Did you all fight or something?" asks Jaune.

"Weiss is just kinda distant." Yang answers.

"That and she hates me." Ruby adds. "I haven't even been leader for a full day and I already have a teammate that hates me."

"I'm sure that's not true." Pyrrha says in an attempt to make the younger girl feel better.

"Yeah, she might just be agitated because of what you guys have been through together." voices Yang.

"Basically all of that is material for her to hate me, sis." Ruby states.

"Ruby, it's only been a short time since you've known each other. You're lucky to have already found friends by this point. Some people can go over a year in a new place before finding any." assures Ren.

"Heh, thanks." Ruby responds with a smile.

"Anyway, I have to say I'm impressed that you are leader, Ruby. Even being in an academy at your age is a great achievement." Pyrrha tells the girl.

"Well I'm not surprised." Yang stats with a triumphant grin. "Ruby's always wanted to be a hero. Even as a little kid, she would run around and 'keep her eyes out for evil.'"

"Yaaaang." Ruby whines as her face begins to turn red in embarrassment.

"I think it's sweet." Pyrrha tries to reassure the younger girl.

"Did she ever get hurt?" questions Jaune.

"A few times," Yang tells them. "but she always quickly bounced back. One time she fell down some stairs while trying to jump on one and do a 'superhero pose.' Another, she hit her face on the concrete from attempting to catch a frog that she was pretending was a monster. Oh, and she fell from a tree after trying to catch a squirrel that snatched a nut from another squirrel."

With each of Yang's stories, Ruby's face just gets redder and redder as she attempts to hide underneath her hood, making everyone but Weiss chuckle.

"Did she ever attempt to do anything to a person?" asks Nora.

"Dad used to pretend to be a villain for her to defeat, and there was actually one time she actually handcuffed him to a pole and was stuck there until mom came home and talked Ruby into giving her the key."

"Where did she get the handcuffs?" Blake asks.

"To this day, we have no idea. Although, our money's on Uncle Qrow."

"What about someone other than family?" asks Jaune.

"Not that I can think o... actually, there was this one time we were visiting Atlas and went shopping in a marketplace. She saw this kid take some apples from a vendor and grabbed her arm."

Upon hearing this, Weiss looks towards Ruby for a moment. The hair and eyes match up, but these aren't the same people from back then, right?

"Did you get in trouble?" questions Blake.

"N-no," Ruby announces, still slightly embarrassed from the other stories. "but she did bite me."

"She bit you?" Pyrrha wonders.

Weiss looks away from Ruby and down at her remaining plate of food. No. No no. These are really starting to sound like the same kids.

"Yeah, hard enough to draw blood too." Yang answers. "After that, she ran into the alley. Looking back, I think she was homeless. I mean, she looked a little worse for wear and was really scared of us... and we never found any family of hers."

"That's horrible." states Pyrrha.

Ren and Nora exchange glances, knowing full well what it's like to be alone. Blake sighs, having had friends who were orphans.

"How old was she?" questions Nora.

"Around Yang's age, I think." answers Ruby. "So five?"

The table falls into silence for a moment. Yep, they are definitely the same people. Okay, it's okay. As long as they don't put it together that it was her, she'll be fine. She'll be just fine. … She just needs to make sure they never know. Weiss looks towards Ruby and a picture flashes in the faunus' head. One of a woman with red and black hair and silver eyes in a white cloak as she smiles down at her. The image fades into a younger face of the woman with a slight hair change and a red cloak instead of white. Weiss just continues to stare at the girl until she tears her eyes away and quickly departs.


End file.
